Olympic Opening Ceremony Time 2016: TV Schedule for Live and Delayed Viewing

The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will kick off with the traditional opening ceremony on Friday at the iconic Maracana Stadium.

NBC has made the decision to have the ceremony on tape delay despite the fact Rio is just one hour ahead of the Eastern Time Zone. UK viewers will be able to watch the ceremony live on BBC One, while CBC will have live coverage for Canadian viewers.

Here's a look at the TV schedule for the ceremony:

Time	Broadcaster
8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT	NBC (U.S.)
7 p.m. MT	NBC (U.S.)
8 p.m. PT	NBC (U.S.)
Midnight BST (Live)	BBC One (UK)

The lack of live coverage in the U.S. has been a hot topic for some time, as NBC has refrained from broadcasting the opening ceremony since the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.

Nancy Armour of USA Today took a strong shot at the network when the news initially broke:

"

NBC has a long history of burying its head in the sand when it comes to its Olympic coverage, and an equally long history of getting (rightfully) skewered for it. The #NBCFail hashtag has already been resurrected, as users grumble about the delay.

There's no reaction yet from @NBCDelayed, the parody Twitter account. Probably still trying to figure out how to tweet from a rotary phone.

"

Techdirt's Timothy Geigner (warning: contains NSFW language) pointed out the irony in the fact NBC is planning on making these the “most live Olympics ever” and is committed to broadcasting 4,500 hours worth of events via its website and app. Ceremony broadcasts on the East Coast will have a one-hour delay, while viewers on the West Coast will be four hours behind schedule.

Buda Mendes/Getty Images

Film director Fernando Meirelles will be one of those in charge of the spectacle, and he has already made it clear fans shouldn't expect the type of extravagant special effects we've gotten used to in recent years.

Brazil finds itself in a recession, and that's something the event organisers have taken into account, per Meirelles, who told Bloomberg's Tariq Panja he would be “ashamed” to spend the type of money organisers in London spent on their ceremony four years ago, saying:

"

We are in a financial crisis, everybody knows. It wouldn’t be fair to spend money that London spent in their ceremony.

I guess I’d be ashamed to waste what London spent in a country where we need sanitation, where education needs money. So I’m very glad we are not spending money like crazy.

I’m happy to work with this low budget because it makes sense for Brazil.

"

That doesn't mean the ceremony is set to be a disappointment. While few details have been leaked so far, the organisers have revealed over 6,000 dancers will take part in the show, led by Deborah Colker, one of the nation's most celebrated choreographers. Per Rio's official website, rehearsals have been underway since May.

Buda Mendes/Getty Images

Pop sensation Katy Perry recently released a song for the 2016 Olympics, "Rise," and while it isn't clear whether she will perform at the opening ceremony, she has sung at major sporting events in the past, including Super Bowl XLIX in 2015.