NBC extends Olympics opening ceremony coverage

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC has extended its tape-delayed coverage of Friday's opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics by a half hour.

The ceremony now will be broadcast to American audiences at 7:30 p.m. EDT, NBC Sports said during Sunday night's telecast of the NFL Hall of Fame Game from Canton, Ohio. The previous plan was to televise the ceremony beginning at 8 p.m. for four hours.

But NBC Sports said the ceremony looked so good during dress rehearsals last week that it figured out a way to get the party started sooner. There's no way to help, however, the fact that due to the time difference the ceremony will have been over for hours before the coverage begins.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter