NBC will live stream the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony for the first time

Ever since NBC began streaming the Olympics, one of the issues that had been sticking in the craw of viewers is that the Opening Ceremony was not streamed live. While this year’s Opening Ceremony will be tape delayed on television (as usual), the event will be streamed live on the NBC Sports app and on NBCOlympics.com.

With PyeongChang 14 hours ahead of the East Coast and the Opening Ceremony taking place at 8 p.m. local time on Friday, February 9, it means that it will be taking place at 6 a.m. ET/3 a.m. PT. That would not be accessible to a mass audience on broadcast TV, so NBC will delay it until 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

NBC hasn’t aired an Opening Ceremony live since 2010 in Vancouver. In 2016, the network elected not to carry the Rio de Janeiro Opening Ceremony live, even though the city was just one hour ahead of the East Coast. NBC chose to cram ads into their broadcasting, also extending the event’s running time.

The Peacock came under fire when NBC Sports executive John Miller said people who watch the Olympics are not necessarily sports fans, “More women watch the games than men, and for the women, they’re less interested in the result and more interested in the journey. It’s sort of like the ultimate reality show and mini-series wrapped into one.”

On another note, Katie Couric, who left NBC in 2006, will return to co-host the Opening Ceremony with Mike Tirico. Couric co-hosted the 2000, 2002 and 2004 Opening Ceremonies with Bob Costas.

Also, NBC still doesn’t know whether or not an interview with President Trump will be featured at all during the Olympics. They’ve reportedly reached out to the White House, but a decision hasn’t been made yet.

NBC has asked for interview with Trump for Olympics. It is being considered by White House says EP Jim Bell.

— Joe Flint (@JBFlint) January 17, 2018

[Philly.com]