Olympics media: Delayed start for NBC, ad overload

We’ll tell you what time they are competing, what channel you can see it on, and we’ll even give you links to the live stream of the event.

Because the teams were announced in Portugese, the US group walked one hour earlier than in London, having a possible impact on ratings.

If viewer tweets are to be believed, they are not having it.

It was a long, sometimes tortuous evening, but while avid sports fans might scoff at these spectacles, many millions of people do care, and watch.

NBC still posted big numbers for the Opening Ceremony on August 5, reporting a 17.2 overnight.

As the Olympics open on Friday and the opening ceremony is viewed all around the world, NBC has opted to show the ceremony on a tape delay.

Meanwhile, back on NBC, the Parade of Nations dragged on, providing a valuable geography lesson: There are too many nations. It’s tough to justify showing an already completed sporting event after it happened since the internet, and especially social media, allow us to see the results in real time. The production dragged on and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron by Brazilian marathoner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima wasn’t aired until after midnight on the East Coast. In an era of instant information, NBC, the network that paid billions for exclusive rights to the games, delayed the opening.

Rio Olympic Organizing Committee chair Carlos Arthur Nuzman delivered a mostly forgettable speech, much of it in Portuguese, praising the efforts of all the individuals responsible for making the Games happen. Still, the broadcast is the point of entry for the majority of viewers, and can do a better job reflecting the breadth of the event. Bob Costas will anchor. It establishes in viewers’ minds that live competition takes priority. So while NBC’s announcers cover an event live on television, with an online simulcast, NBC’s website and app will usually carry the global feed. “It’s nearly on the back-burner”, Whipple said. Other sports covered include track and field, boxing, fencing, field hockey, judo, open water swimming, rugby, synchronized swimming, table tennis, wrestling and others.

I should say here that I love the Olympics, and no matter how I felt about the opening ceremony, I still sat through it. Roberts noted that none of the athletes are medal contenders, but it’s worth keeping up with their stories as the Olympics go on.

The 2016 Rio Olympics continue Sunday with a men’s soccer match between Germany and South Korea at the Fonte Nova Arena in Salvador.