The 2024 Paris Olympics gets underway in earnest with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, July 26, with coverage beginning at noon p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT. It will serve as the official kickoff of the games, which runs for 16 days of competition through August 11.
NBC and Peacock will present live coverage of the ceremony beginning at noon ET (the NBCUniversal broadcaster and streamer will include a commercial-free hour of coverage, a first, beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET), hosted by Mike Tirico, Kelly Clarkson and Peyton Manning. NBCU sibling Telemundo will provide Spanish-language coverage starting at 1 p.m. ET.
Primetime coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.
In addition to the hosts, NBC Sports’ Maria Taylor will be on the Team USA boat, while Today hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb will set up alongside a bridge along the route. Opening Ceremony reporters include Melissa Stark and Andrea Joyce, who will report from the red carpet.
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In all, NBCU’s linear and digital platforms expect to show 7,000-plus programming hours of the 2024 Games. In addition to TV and online, Imax will present NBC’s live coverage at more than 150 U.S. locations.
What to expect:
In a first for the Olympics, the Opening Ceremony won’t be held inside a stadium. The more than 10,500 athletes from 206 countries will embark on the annual Parade of Nations via almost 100 boats down the Seine River, which cuts through the center of Paris. Team USA will feature flag-bearers LeBron James and Coco Gauff.
Lady Gaga and Celine Dion are set to perform at the commencement ceremony.
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The almost four-mile route starts from the Austerlitz bridge around 7:30 p.m. local time (1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT) and travels to the front of the Trocadéro on the west end of the city, where the main ceremonies will take place, and where NBCU is setting up its main broadcast center for the 16 days of games.
Organizers said 80 giant screens and speakers will be set up around the city to allow residents and visitors to watch along with the hundreds of spectators expected to line the river and its bridges.
Details on programming and various events can be found in our complete rundown of the 2024 Olympics TV schedule.
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