The London Olympics 2012 opening ceremony gets underway today at in London's Olympic Stadium, but in the coverage will be only be aired later tonight.
The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. London time, or 4 p.m. EDT, unfortunately, viewers in the U.S. won't be able to watch it live but will have to wait till 7:30 p.m. EDT to watch it. The announcers of the ceremony will be Bob Costas and Matt Lauer, with Meredith Vieira providing correspondence.
Tthere will be no live stream available to American viewers. NBC's tape-delayed coverage of the games (which will be tape-delayed from the East Coast) will be the only way fans in the Bay Area will enjoy this fanfare. The International Olympic Committee executive director Gilbert Felli has said the opening ceremony should last no more than three hours.
NBC is live streaming the rest of the Olympics. Those who want to see events on live stream can visit here to watch live streaming online at www.nbcolympics.com.
The Olympic torch, which has traveled around the United Kingdom over the past 70 days, then set off on the final leg of its journey toward the stadium, aboard the royal barge Gloriana.
In London, the Olympic party began Friday morning with a mass bell ringing, according to the BBC. Big Ben, the bell housed in the Palace of Westminister, sounded for three minutes for the first time since King George VI's funeral in 1952.
The Summer Games, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad, will feature 10,902 athletes from 204 countries.
The opening ceremony is estimated to cost nearly $42 million. The spectacle will be directed by famed film director and producer Danny Boyle, known for such classic films such as "Trainspotting" and "Slumdog Millionaire." The opening ceremony features the Parade of Nations, as athletes from more than 200 countries march into the Olympic Stadium together in one of the most powerful symbolic events in the world.
