Across the world, people are crammed around their television sets, eagerly watching the $42million spectacular of London’s Opening Ceremonies.

But those watching stateside will be forced to wait until 7:30pm EST, when NBC will broadcast the show, three and a half hours from the actual start of the ceremony, adjusted for time differences.

The network, which has sole rights to broadcasting the Olympics in America, has chosen to delay their broadcast to the chagrin of viewers hoping to catch a live glance of the elaborate ceremonies.

Further, they chose not to stream the events online, the Wall Street Journal said. This means that those wanting to watch on the West Coast must wait a full six and a half hours before seeing the commencement of the 2012 Olympic Games.

NBC, which has owned the American broadcasting rights to the Summer Olympic games since 1988, most likely held the broadcast so it would hit square in prime time. Advertisers pay more for time slots in such programming.

According to Ad Week, NBC purchased the rights to the Olympics from 2014-2020 for a staggering $4.38billion. They were awarded the right by the International Olympic Committee.

Some members of the media took to Twitter to speak out about NBC's programming decision. The Guardian's Matt Wells, who is based in New York City, tweeted, "NBC showing complete contempt for audience by not showing/streaming Olympics opening ceremony live." He added, "what type of broadcaster pretends something isn't happening?" Olympics enthusiasts shared Wells' sentiment, lamenting NBC's decision to delay airing the Opening Ceremony.

（美國NBC2012倫敦奧運會宣傳片）

【新聞快訊】

正當(dāng)全世界體育迷如癡如醉地欣賞英倫范兒的倫敦奧運會開幕式表演之際，美國電視觀眾遇到了四年一度的煩心事，那就是，擁有奧運會轉(zhuǎn)播權(quán)的美國全國廣 播公司NBC，并沒有直播倫敦碗里精彩夢幻的開幕式表演，而是推遲了三個小時，于美國當(dāng)年時間晚上七點半到十二點間的黃金時段播出錄播剪輯的開幕式轉(zhuǎn)播。

由于倫敦奧運會開幕式的開始時間正值美國當(dāng)?shù)貢r間周五的下午，作為商業(yè)電視臺考慮收視率的特性，美國全國廣播公司NBC再度做出決定，延遲轉(zhuǎn)播倫敦奧運開幕式，以便爭取在晚間的黃金時段吸引更多的美國觀眾，為廣告商爭得更多利益。

這一舉動雖然合乎商業(yè)法則的情理，但是對于希望第一時間分享奧運精彩的觀眾多少有點別扭，NBC這一舉措也遭到同行的吐槽。

紐約的媒體人威爾斯在自己的推特上抱怨，“為什么總是美國人被激怒呢，究竟什么樣的媒體，才能假裝一切都還沒發(fā)生呢”，媒體人賈維斯則稱，“當(dāng)我打開NBC奧運頻道，他們竟然給我看北京奧運會的開幕式”！

實際上，四年前的北京奧運會，NBC也沒有直播奧運會開幕式，而是推遲將近12個小時，在美國當(dāng)?shù)赝黹g黃金時段錄播，但是仍然打破了收視記錄，開幕式的收視記錄高達(dá)21.5%。

據(jù)悉，美國全國廣播公司關(guān)于倫敦奧運會已經(jīng)賣出了超過十億美元的廣告費，遠(yuǎn)超過北京奧運會期間的廣告收入。