NBC Will Air Olympic Opening Ceremony on a Tape Delay

The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro begin today, August 5, with the Opening Ceremonies. And while Rio is only an hour ahead of the US east coast and things kick off at 7 pm EDT, NBC is still airing it on a tape delay at 8 pm EDT.

Tape delays aren’t new to viewers. This is something that seems to happen every time the Olympics are held. In the summer of 2012 when the Olympics were held in London, many in the US were upset that they were finding out results on social media earlier in the day, and by the time NBC finally aired the games (to coincide with primetime and ratings and therefore… money), they weren’t as excited for them because they already knew how it turned out.

Furthermore, NBC’s Chief Marketing Officer angered a lot of viewers by saying implying that the tape delay is fine because women watch more of the games than men and women don’t care about results. In an article on Business Insider, he is quoted as saying:

The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly 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 miniseries wrapped into one. And to tell the truth, it has been the complaint of a few sportswriters. It has not been the complaint of the vast viewing public.

Twitter Reacts to NBC’s Opening Ceremony Tape Delay

Spoiler alert: no one thinks this is a good idea.

I don't understand NBC's decision to tape-delay Olympic events. They want to curate excitement in each event, but it's unnecessary.

— Joe Wedra (@JoeWedra) August 5, 2016

NBC claims it's broadcasting the Olympics on delay because "women don't care about results." https://t.co/wKTl4yRCKo pic.twitter.com/zsgr1g1hxY

— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 5, 2016

It's the age of real-time, on-demand & instant access, tape delays don't work anymore. We have the internet. @nbc https://t.co/ll8ez90Ns0

— Jon Branch (@jonbranch) August 5, 2016

Because NBC decided to be an a**hole and tape delay the Olympic #OpeningCeremony 2nite, I'm off social media until 12AM ET.

— FanAnon (@FanAnonymous38) August 5, 2016

The fact that NBC is running the Opening Ceremony on a one hour tape delay seems exceptionally silly in 2016

— Daniel Kaszor (@dkaszor) August 5, 2016

I really wish the IOC didn’t renew their contract with NBC. Another Olympic opening ceremony that is going to be on a tape delay…

— Dejan Zivkovic (@DejanZ) August 5, 2016

Dear Olympics,

Next time, DONT Sell the TV rights to someone like NBC.https://t.co/NM0ZSmfnR1

— TeamUSA (@InaMaziarcz) August 5, 2016

Really? I'm less interested in the results of the Olympics because I'm a woman?https://t.co/2dveInYBxK

— Cori Hundt (@corihundt) August 5, 2016

Image source: colorlib.com