Olympic Torch Lighting 2016: TV Schedule and Live Stream for Memorable Moment

The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, will kick off with an elaborate opening ceremony and the traditional lighting of the Olympic cauldron after a lengthy relay that has brought the torch all the way from Greece to South America.

The cauldron will be lit inside the iconic Maracana Stadium on Friday, August 5, before moving to a more public location, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com).

U.S. viewers will not be able to witness the special moment live, as NBC has decided to tape delay the opening ceremony. UK viewers will have live broadcasts and streaming options available via BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Here's a look at the TV schedule:

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)

Live Streams: BBC iPlayer, NBC Sports Live

The Olympic torch has already faced quite the journey just to make it to Brazil, having been lit in Greece all the way back in April. Along the way, it nearly ran into some major trouble, as someone tried to put out the torch with a fire extinguisher, per Fox Sports:

Per the report from Fox Sports' Dan Carson, it marked the second time someone tried to extinguish the torch since it arrived in Brazil.

At the time of this writing, it was unclear where the cauldron would be moved after being lit inside the Maracana as part of the event organisers' efforts to keep the details of the opening ceremony as quiet as possible.

Even spokesman Mario Andrada and Rio mayor Eduardo Paes had yet to agree on a permanent location when the decision to move the cauldron was announced.

Handout/Getty Images

Who exactly will light the cauldron isn't clear, either. Some of the biggest athletes in the history of sports have had the honour of symbolically opening the Olympics, including the late Muhammad Ali, and Brazil has a long history of sporting excellence and plenty of worthy candidates as a result.

Per the Associated Press' Mauricio Savarese, football legend Pele is the favourite to light the cauldron, but in the same report, the three-time World Cup winner said he's not even sure whether he can be in Rio in time.

However, the organising committee doesn't always opt to go with famous athletes. CBC News' Kamila Hinkson interviewed Stephane Prefontaine, who was only a teenager when he and Sandra Henderson lit the flame together in Montreal in 1976:

"

The organizers were looking for youth because they wanted to show Canada was a young, forward-looking country.

[…] There were so many people outside the stadium. They knew something was happening but they didn't know what.

Everyone could see us and there was an explosion of sound. It was very impressive.

[...] That whole moment was very emotional.

"

The ceremony itself will not be as extravagant as viewers have perhaps come to expect. Fernando Meirelles, who will be one of the directors in charge of the spectacle, told Bloomberg's Tariq Panja his country is in the middle of a recession, and expenses will be spared accordingly.

That doesn't mean the ceremony won't be a spectacular one―but major special effects and expenses are things Meirelles is looking to avoid:

"

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.

"

The ceremony will kick off at 8 p.m. local time (7 p.m. ET), but NBC won't start its broadcast until one hour later on the East Coast and up to four hours later on the West Coast.