Instead of basking in the glory of hosting the first Olympics in South America, organizers were struggling to get the event ready. Rio de Janeiro is an hour ahead of Atlanta, so the primetime action will happen in real time.
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Beyond that, NBC’s app and website offer highlights, interviews and features on athletes without needing a cable or satellite subscription.
If you’re looking for medal standings, event schedules, results and athlete information, Google has customized the search engine for the Olympics to ensure that even broad Olympic-themed queries yield results focused on the games.
For instance, the firm said that an analysis of 1,300 Olympics-related social media accounts across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google+ (not sure why they bothered with that one) found that 15 per cent were fraudulent. You won’t see it on NBC’s main provider list, but click on “See a full list of providers” and you’ll find PlayStation Vue. Again, these will be offered with a one-day delay. NBC was also reportedly upset that because the Portugese language is being used for the parade of nations, the US team (or Estados Unidos) will file into the stadium relatively early.
The rest of the sports are spread across 10 other networks, many with particular specialties. The Golf Channel will, unsurprisingly, be the home of golf, which is returning to the Olympics for the first time since 1904.
Sony’s PlayStation Vue service ($29.99-$44.99 monthly, watch on PlayStation 4 and other devices), delivers local NBC broadcasts and Telemundo in several cities. Coverage begins August 6, and concludes on August 20. Bravo will feature tennis; CNBC has a number of events including volleyball, cycling, and wrestling; MSNBC counts rugby and water polo among its sports; Telemundo will broadcast hundreds of hours in Spanish; and U.S. will carry more basketball, along with beach volleyball, rowing, synchronized swimming, and more. During the Olympics, Sling is adding MSNBC and CNBC for free.
Variety also reports that cord-cutters can use a cable recording service called Tablo to watch the games, but at a base cost of $200 (plus extra fees), it sounds like the biggest hassle to us.
No problem. Just go to NBC’s athlete bio page. While NBC will be broadcasting live television coverage of the games, mobile viewers are able to watch an Olympic live NBC video stream free online as well. NBC is betting, and in fact has advertised the Olympics, on the idea that viewers can use a pick-me-up from a drumbeat of bad news.
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Watch two previews of The Most Beautiful Things in the World – which was filmed and produced over 18 months – below. “I think it will be nice, fingers crossed, if we can have a couple of weeks to give people something to cheer about”.
