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Does it feel as if NBC and its affiliates are getting a little greedy with its London coverage? As one who has defended the network's right to try and make as much money as it can off the games in hopes of offsetting the $1.18 billion it paid for rights, I have to admit even I have been getting a little queasy as to the way  that long-held patterns of network prime-time programming and affiliate news are being bent in pursuit of extra profits....

NBC will air a one-hour look at the career of Michael Phelps at 7 tonight, the network announced late Saturday night. "Michael Phelps: America's Golden Champion" will feature what the NBC Sports is calling an "exclusive" interview by Bob Costas done with the Phelps at the end of his final day of competition Saturday. "America's greatest interviewer sitting down with the world's greatest Olympic champion makes for an inspiring piece of television," NBC Olympics executive producer Jim Bell said in a statement announcing the prime-time special.

No one plays a larger hands-on role than Bucky Gunts in shaping what tens of millions of Americans are seeing each night of the London Summer Olympics. As head of production and director of the opening ceremonies and the nightly prime-time show for NBC, the Baltimore Friends School graduate largely determines the major story lines and images that will form the shared memory of the games - not just in 2012 but possibly for generations to come. A four-time Emmy Award winner for previous Olympics direction, Gunts is at the center of a media strategy that has resulted in record ratings for NBC - as well as some angry criticism primarily in social media.

Maybe the best way to cut through all the spin and counterspin on the Olympics is this: Last week, NBC was saying it would lose money on the Olympics. Yesterday, it said it might break even. Today, the network is saying it could turn a profit on the $1.18 billion investment. "Yeah, we think there's a small chance, a chance we could make a little bit of money over the next couple of weeks," Mark Lazarus, chairman of the NBC Sports Group, said in a conference call from London Thursday when asked if the network might turn a profit on the games.

Driven by gold for Michael Phelps and the women gymnastics team, NBC's prime-time coverage of the Summer Olympics Tuesday hit a new high in overnight ratings topping those earned by the record-setting opening ceremonies. And maybe it's me, but the complaints in social media didn't seem quite as loud yesterday. Or, maybe they were just drowned out by Phelps becoming the most decorated athlete in Olympics history. I know I saw both Phelps events and some of the women gymnastics on live stream in real time Tuesday afternoon, but still wound up watching the tape-delay version through prime time.

UPDATES WITH RESPONSE FROM NETWORK SPOKESMAN: NBC said Monday that the problems experienced over the weekend with its Olympics live stream had been worked out. Not exactly. But after a morning of signing in and getting bounced offline repeatedly, and then spending long stretches looking at freeze frames instead of action while the little wheel on the screen went round and round in the afternoon, I have to admit I saw both of Phelps' races in real time Tuesday -- sort of. I didn't actually see him touch the wall at the end of 4X200 freestyle relay where the American men took the gold and made Phelps the most decorated Olympian in history.

The complaints about NBC not showing marquee events like swimming have not abated, but the network is claiming another night of record viewing Sunday night, based on preliminary overnights. Meanwhile WBAL, the network's Baltimore affiliate, is boasting of its Friday night audience for the opening ceremonies. The Hearst-owned station has been treating tape-delayed events as "spoilers," reporting on them only as a graphic flashed on the screen during the sports portion of its early evening newscasts -- and warning viewers to look away if they don't want to know.

With three nights of record ratings, NBC's coverage of the London Summer Olympics is winning on the prime-time TV front. But it looks to be losing in major ways in the world of social media, as a rising tide of complaints about the network's policy of tape-delaying major events - such as those involving Michael Phelps - appear on Twitter, accompanied by such hashtags as #nbcfail and #nbcdelayed. The disconnect between NBC's success on TV and failure in social media highlights not only the landmark transformation taking place in media these days, but also the radical change in audience expectations and behavior, analysts say. Like many media companies, NBC has tried to lure viewers to its digital platforms with promises of providing information 24/7, whenever the consumer wants it. But now, the network is feeling the heat in social media for not feeding the very on-demand appetite it helped create “This kind of reaction to tape delay in Olympics coverage has always been there.

There has been no shortage of complaints about NBC tape-delaying big events until prime time. And that is sure to be the case again tonight with the second-place finish by Michael Phelps and his fellow relay swimmers getting the delay treatment. Nevertheless, the network rolled to a second straight night of record ratings Saturday wiith 28.7 million viewers. Again, Baltimore also failed to make the Top 20 markets in terms of viewership. That is surprising given all the Olympic connections here -- particularly with Phelps.

If viewers to WBAL's 6 p.m. news were confused, they had the right to be. Outside of a graphic that appeared onscreen during the sports portion of the news, the only mention of Michael Phelps' failure to win a medal in his first event Saturday came in a graphic shown onscreen during Gerry Sandusky's sports portion of the show. And Sandusky warned viewers to look away before the news of Phelps' fourth-place finish was shown on the screen if they didn't want to know. Sandusky never verbally reported the results, according to WBAL General Manager Dan Joerres.