NBC to Air Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony Live for the First Time

Despite a recent report that the Tokyo Olympics could be canceled due to the pandemic, NBC is pushing ahead with its plans for the Summer Games, which were postponed from last year, rolling out a major shakeup to its Opening Ceremony broadcast. The network usually airs the Opening Ceremony in prime time, on a delay, but this year viewers can also catch the celebration live for the first time. The live broadcast of the Opening Ceremony from Tokyo will kick off at 6:55 a.m. ET on Friday, July 23, followed by a special edition of Today at 11 a.m. with reaction and athlete interviews. This is the first time that NBC will broadcast an Opening Ceremony live in the morning. Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of the East Coast, so the ceremony will begin at 8 p.m. in Japan, which is 7 a.m. ET. “Following the unprecedented challenges presented by the global pandemic, the world will come together in Tokyo for what could be the most meaningful and anticipated Opening Ceremony ever,” Pete Bevacqua, chairman of NBC Sports Group, said in a statement. NBC will also air the Opening Ceremony in prime time beginning at 7:30 p.m., featuring special coverage of Team USA alongside performances, pageantry and the Parade of Nations. “We are delighted to offer live coverage of the Opening Ceremony for those who want immediacy and, later in the day, build on NBC Olympics’ terrific primetime legacy with a full celebration of these much anticipated Tokyo Olympics, complete with expert analysis and enhanced coverage of Team USA," Molly Solomon, executive producer and president of NBC Olympics Production, said in a statement. Will the Summer Games go on? Last month, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told investors he was "super hopeful and optimistic" that the Olympics would go on as planned, despite a report that the games could be canceled. The International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government both denied the report, and the IOC said it is “fully concentrated on and committed to the successful delivery of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 this year.” The Opening Ceremony is set to be the first major global gathering since the world came to a halt last year. NBC will also air its first-ever Olympic daytime show from 1-4 p.m. ET on the opening Friday of the Games. NBC had faced criticism for airing past Opening Ceremonies on a delay, including the 2016 Summer Games' kickoff in Rio de Janeiro. The network adjusted its coverage for the 2018 Winter Olympics, livestreaming the event for the first time, 14 hours before its usual prime-time coverage. The full digital and streaming plans for the Tokyo Olympics will be announced at a later date, but NBCU chairman of television and streaming Mark Lazarus has described the Games as the “gold standard” for NBCUniversal’s sports portfolio. “We’ve spent a lot of time and money securing sports rights, and more and more, we’re securing those rights to have flexibility across multiple platforms,” he said last month at NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives) Virtual Miami. “We have the rights to put [the Olympics] on any platform at any time, and that platform doesn’t even have to be invented yet.” When the Games were first delayed in March 2020, NBCUniversal was left with a $1.25 billion ad revenue hole for the year. With just under six months ahead of the Olympics, the NBC Sports Group is hoping to beat last year’s record-breaking ad revenue.