If the last Beijing Olympics is any guide, Friday's opening ceremony for the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games is sure to be mind-blowing.
Organizers say this opening ceremony will be simpler than in 2008, featuring 3,000 performers instead of the 15,000 at Summer Games. But the ceremony will again be held at the wavy, latticed “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium and directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who teased that he plans an innovative way of lighting the Olympic flame.
Whatever organizers have in store, it's never been easier to watch the Olympics, even if you don't have cable.
The opening ceremony will air at 6:30 a.m., live on NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports and NBCOlympics.com, hosted by Savannah Guthrie and Mike Tirico, and return for a primetime presentation with all the pageantry, including Team USA and flagbearers John Shuster and Brittany Bowe (but no shirtless Tongan, alas.) (The first primetime show is actually on Feb. 3, with live figure skating and men's and women's moguls.)
Here's how to watch the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 opening ceremony.
6:30 a.m. EST - The opening ceremony airs live on NBC and on the premium streaming service Peacock, and streams on the NBCSports app and NBCOlympics.com. (A cable subscription is required.) If you don't have cable, Peacock is airing highlights on its free Olympic Spotlight Channel, or you can catch NBC coverage on a live TV streaming service like the Olympic channel on Sling TV, YouTube TV, Fubo TV or Hulu + Live TV with a subscription or free trial.
9 a.m. - 11 a.m. EST - The opening ceremony is followed by a special edition of TODAY on NBC, featuring reaction to the ceremony and athlete interviews.
12 p.m. - 3 p.m. EST - On NBC and Peacock, NBCU will review the highlights of the opening ceremony and look ahead to the biggest storylines of the Beijing Olympics with its first-ever daytime show on the opening Friday of a Winter Games.
8 p.m. - 11 p.m. EST - An enhanced primetime presentation of the opening ceremony on NBC and Peacock features special coverage of Team USA, along with the performances, pageantry, and Parade of Nations.
Technically, the Games started on Wednesday with the mixed doubles in the curling underway.
But the true start of the Winter Olympics will begin with the Opening Ceremony, directed by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Zhang Yimou.
When is the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony?
The Winter Olympics opening ceremony is on Friday, February 4 at noon UK time - this is 8pm in Beijing.
The Winter Games then take place up until Sunday, February 20.
Beijing is eight hours ahead of the UK, meaning events will be taking place across the night UK time until around 1pm in the day.
What TV channel and live stream is Winter Olympics on?
In the same fashion as the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the Winter Games will be broadcast on both BBC and Eurosport in the UK.
You can watch every event live across Eurosport and Discovery+.
While the BBC will broadcast more than 300 hours of live coverage across BBC One and BBC Two with Hazel Irvine, Jeanette Kwakye, Ayo Akinwolere and JJ Chalmers hosting.
For the opening ceremony, BBC One begin their coverage at 11.30am.
Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport said: "We are delighted to bring audiences the very best action and medal moments from Beijing.
"Our expert line-up of international Winter sport stars combined with our round the clock coverage will ensure that the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games take pride of place in an already mouth-watering sporting year."
0 Comments