In two weeks, the sports world will turn its focus to Rio de Janeiro. And, although the region has been plagued by concerns over venue readiness, disease, and crime - not unlike most Olympic Games in recent memory - NBC Olympics remains committed to capturing the iconic moments, telling the heartwarming stories, and delivering more Summer Games content to U.S. viewers on more platforms than ever before.
We are ready and Rio is ready, said NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus at last week's Rio 2016 Press Preview. And, while there's still some things that they need to finish out - and that we, as normal preparation in getting our broadcast center [ready, need to finish] - we and the city are both ready.
In addition to blanketing the NBC Sports' family of linear networks with nearly nonstop television coverage, the network again plans to stream every event on NBCOlympics.com.
This will be the biggest media event in history, continued Lazarus. We anticipate televising and streaming over 6,700 hours, mostly live, so it will be the most live ever; it will be the most networks ever - from NBC to Telemundo to NBC Sports Network, USA, Bravo, MSNBC, CNBC - and then all of our streaming. In English and in Spanish, it will be the biggest Games in history.
No Live Broadcast of the Opening Ceremony
The Games of the XXXI Olympiad will officially open on Friday August 5, when Rio welcomes more than 10,000 athletes representing 206 countries to compete in 306 events across 42 disciplines. Although the vast majority of the 306 events will be streamed live on an authenticated platform, the Opening Ceremony will not be.
NBC plans to broadcast the Opening Ceremony on a one-hour delay, simulcasting the feed on NBCOlympics.com. The network delayed the domestic broadcast of the Opening Ceremony for both the London and the Sochi Games because of the large time difference between those locales and the U.S. Rio is only one hour ahead of the Eastern time zone; however, NBC again will delay the broadcast of the Opening Ceremony in order to air it during primetime in the East.
We think it's important to give the context to the show, said Lazarus. This Opening Ceremony will be a celebration of Brazilian culture, of Rio; of the pageantry, the excitement, the flare that this beautiful nation has. We think it's important that we're able to put that in context for the viewer so it's not just a flash of color. So we will air that on a one-hour delay.
Production Plans Include Plenty of Tech Toys
Last month, NBC announced that virtual reality will make its Olympic debut at the 2016 Summer Games. The network plans to deliver 85 hours of OBS-produced VR programming to authenticated users of compatible Samsung Galaxy smartphones equipped with Samsung Gear VR and the NBC Sports App. In addition, the Peacock plans to deliver delayed 4K/UHD coverage of the Games to cable, satellite, telco providers, and more.
It's important to take steps and try to push the boundaries with things like different cameras, technologies, and graphics, and who knows where it'll all go. says Executive Producer Jim Bell. VR is a cool thing that still is probably limited to a pretty small amount of people, but we still want to do it. We see the Olympics as a place where new technologies and toys should be tried, whether it's VR or 4K or 8K, which is not too far down the road.
Virtual-reality coverage of the Rio Olympics will be available on a one-day delay and include some of the Games' most popular sports: men's basketball, gymnastics, track and field, beach volleyball, diving, boxing, and fencing. NBC will launch its VR programming with the Opening Ceremony, which will be available to authenticated users the following day, and conclude with the Closing Ceremony.
It's always a special moment, says Bell of the Opening Ceremony. It's the chance when the host country gets to say to the world, Here's who we are, here's where we are, here's our story. I think especially since Beijing, which was just such a jaw-dropping spectacle, cities have tried to find a way to play a little can you top this?.' And, when it comes to throwing a party and the celebration, I think the Brazilians feel pretty confident.
According to Bell, NBC again will rely heavily on OBS coverage, supplementing the feed with its own cameras, graphics, and announcers. The production team will also select several venues on which to deploy unilateral coverage.
It's really a hybrid, Bell explains. You take some sports, like basketball, [that] we feel like we can do essentially with the world feed supplemented with one camera. The game's the game, so that's kind of how we've tried to approach it venue by venue. There are some venues where we just have announcers. And then there's some, like swimming, we don't really even need OBS save for maybe a handful of replays and a couple of special cameras.
As for whether NBC has any exciting graphics enhancements up its sleeve, like the London Olympics' SplashCam for diving or the virtual line denoting the world-record pace in swimming, Bell responds, We're working on it. What's fun for us and our team is, there are, like, 20 things we haven't thought of that are going to make that experience better. We just haven't figured all of them out yet.
Keeping Concerns in Perspective
Coverage of the Olympic Games has come a long way over the past 20 years, evolving from a purely broadcast product in 1996 (NBC broadcast 171.5 hours from the Atlanta Olympics) to a cable entity in the 2000s to a digital phenomenon today. One thing that hasn't changed during that timeframe, however, is trepidation about the host city's preparedness.
Rio faces serious concerns over the Zika virus, the current poli
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
In two weeks, the sports world will turn its focus to Rio de Janeiro. And, although the region has been plagued by concerns over venue readiness, disease, and crime - not unlike most Olympic Games in recent memory - NBC Olympics remains committed to capturing the iconic moments, telling the heartwarming stories, and delivering more Summer Games content to U.S. viewers on more platforms than ever before. 
