NBC asked to cease ringside commentary

Britain's Anthony Joshua departs the ring after he was declared the winner over Kazakhstan's Ivan Dychko following their Men's Super Heavy (+91kg) semi-final boxing match at the London Olympic Games August 10, 2012.

LONDON - Olympic boxing's governing body said it had asked London Games' organisers to tell American broadcaster NBC to cease its ringside commentary at the boxing arena on Friday because they were disrupting officials.

NBC, a unit of Comcast Corp, was the only broadcaster allowed to commentate from the ringside floor and the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said they disturbed officials sitting next to them throughout the competition.  

It recommended to the London organising committee (LOCOG) that NBC's commentary team leave their position. They were offered a space with the other media but decided to leave instead, AIBA said.

"NBC commentators were offered a booth in the media tribune like other broadcasters because they were very disturbing for AIBA officials - even during bouts they were not broadcasting - being located at the edge of the Field of Play," an AIBA spokesman said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

"They claimed that since no boxers from the USA were still in the running, they didn't want to stay anyway."

NBC could not immediately be reached for comment.

AIBA said NBC cameramen were still recording footage at the arena and that the fights would be commentated on from New York.

NBC has paid $4.4 billion for the U.S. rights to the next four Olympics through 2020 and has attracted big audiences to tune in for the London Games by tape-delaying marquee events to air in the evening, maximising viewers and advertising dollars.

NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus said last week that the London Games' tape-delayed prime-time ratings had topped the live prime-time ratings for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Lazarus said NBC, which at one point stood to lose $200 million on the event, had a small chance of making "a little bit of money" because of the strong ratings performance.

However he was also forced to give an impassioned defence of the network's coverage on a conference call, conceding that some of the criticism levelled at the network had been "fair".

A small, but vocal contingent of critics have stormed Twitter, Facebook and other social media, decrying the network's tape-delayed broadcasts, technical glitches with online streaming, heavy promotions and even its cast of commentators.

U.S. media have also reported ringside comments from one of NBC's boxing commentators, trainer Teddy Atlas, who was highly critical at the officiating of the London Games.

America's women boxers picked up two medals on Thursday, one a gold, but its men had their worst performance at an Olympic Games, failing to win a medal for the first time.