In the streaming era, networks can’t get away with tape delaying live events. NBC has been known for tape delays during their Olympics coverage, especially during the Opening Ceremony. In 2018, the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony from Pyeong Chang was streamed live for the first time, but tape delayed on NBC. Last summer from Tokyo, NBC relented and aired the Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony live in all time zones.
This year, NBC is again eschewing their tape delay strategy. On Wednesday, the network announced the Opening Ceremony would air live on NBC, in addition to streaming on Peacock.
Identical to this past summer’s Tokyo Olympics and in a first for a Winter Games, NBCUniversal will provide unprecedented full-day coverage of the Opening Ceremony on Friday. Feb. 4. Coverage begins at 6:30 a.m. ET on NBC and Peacock with NBCU’s first-ever live morning presentation of a Winter Games Opening Ceremony.
Furthermore, Opening Ceremony coverage will continue on NBC for much of the day. TODAY airs at 9 AM ET following the Opening Ceremony and will feature reactions and athlete interviews, and a three-hour daytime show airs at noon ET, focusing on storylines. In primetime, the Opening Ceremony will re-air on NBC “with a special focus on the athletes of Team USA.”
All of NBC’s Olympics content will stream live on Peacock, which was announced last week.
Coverage of the Winter Olympics from Beijing begins on February 2nd, prior to the Opening Ceremony on February 4th. Following the shutdown of NBCSN, much of NBC’s cable coverage of the Olympics will be on USA (airing roughly 400 hours over 19 days). CNBC will also be airing Olympics events, largely curling and hockey.
