For the first time, NBC will livestream an Olympics Opening Ceremony.
The live coverage from Pyeongchang will begin tomorrow at 6 a.m. ET (8 p.m. KST) on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app. This version of coverage won’t have announcers or commercials. Then, tomorrow night at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) NBC’s edited version of the Opening Ceremony hosted by Katie Couric and Mike Tirico will air.
“We are excited to live stream for the first time the Olympic Broadcasting Service’s world feed of the Opening Ceremony,” said Rick Cordella, evp, Digital Media, NBC Sports Group.
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NBC’s prime time coverage of the games will air live in each time zone: at 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CT, 6 p.m. MT and 5 p.m. PT, meaning late afternoon local news in many western markets will be pre-empted. Coverage actually begins tonight.
NBC is also reducing the ad load for the televised opening ceremony by 30 percent. “We wanted to create a more continuous viewing opportunity” during the opening ceremony, Dan Lovinger, evp of ad sales for the NBC Sports Group told Adweek.