The Rio Olympics formally begin August 5th with the opening ceremony from the Maracanã stadium.
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In a statement released Monday, NBC Sports Group Chair Mark Lazarus stated the delay “will allow producers to curate” the coverage of the ceremony in order to provide context.
One of the most decorated Olympians of all time, American swimming legend Michael Phelps has sent out a warning to his rivals, saying he still has “some unfinished business” left going into the Rio Olympic Games.
For the first time, NBC Olympics will stream the coverage of all nine NBCUniversal Olympic networks – broadcast networks NBC and TELEMUNDO (Spanish language); cable channels Bravo, CNBC, Golf Channel, MSNBC, NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), NBC UNIVERSO (Spanish language), and USA Network. NBC affiliates in areas covered by the Mountain time zone will broadcast the event at 7 p.m. Those on Pacific Time can tune in to the program at 8 p.m. To make things even more convenient, you can also stream the broadcast.
“We think it’s important to give context to the show”, he said. “These opening ceremonies will be a celebration of Brazilian culture, of Rio, of the pageantry, of the excitement, of the flair this handsome nation has”.
We’re all in this together–until we are put on a time delay and can’t participate in the same way that other countries are able to. Prior to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, for example, the media warned “Black Widow” suicide bombers could penetrate the protective cordon of the games in Russian Federation. Dozens of athletes are opting out of the games altogether over fears about Zika virus, unfinished stadiums, polluted waters, and a list of other issues that seems to grow longer each week.
Though few live sports events have viewership guarantees, the high price of Olympic advertising – as well as the availability of TV-video advertising inventory in the 16-day, near-round-the-clock Olympic sport competition – still means decent return on investment for marketers.
Meanwhile, the BBC reports that the Brazilian federal government is beefing up security prior to the Rio Olympics. The network will be hoping that enough people want to wait to experience that show at the time when they present it, rather than immediately heading to the internet to consume the event live. Picciani also confirmed that the military will be patrolling the venues for the Olympics beginning July 24.
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For a full Olympic 2016 schedule and TV schedule, check out the details on the NBC site and the official Olympic page.
