Across the world, people are crammed around their television sets, eagerly watching the $42million spectacular of London’s Opening Ceremonies.
But those watching stateside will be forced to wait until 7:30pm EST, when NBC will broadcast the show, three and a half hours from the actual start of the ceremony, adjusted for time differences.
The network, which has sole rights to broadcasting the Olympics in America, has chosen to delay their broadcast to the chagrin of viewers hoping to catch a live glance of the elaborate ceremonies.
Further, they chose not to stream the events online, the Wall Street Journal said. This means that those wanting to watch on the West Coast must wait a full six and a half hours before seeing the commencement of the 2012 Olympic Games.
NBC, which has owned the American broadcasting rights to the Summer Olympic games since 1988, most likely held the broadcast so it would hit square in prime time. Advertisers pay more for time slots in such programming.
According to Ad Week, NBC purchased the rights to the Olympics from 2014-2020 for a staggering $4.38billion. They were awarded the right by the International Olympic Committee.
Some members of the media took to Twitter to speak out about NBC's programming decision. The Guardian's Matt Wells, who is based in New York City, tweeted, "NBC showing complete contempt for audience by not showing/streaming Olympics opening ceremony live." He added, "what type of broadcaster pretends something isn't happening?" Olympics enthusiasts shared Wells' sentiment, lamenting NBC's decision to delay airing the Opening Ceremony.