NBC Olympics Faces Criticism for Tape Delay, Frequent Commercial Breaks

The network aired eight commercials within the first 65 minutes of the Rio Olympics opening ceremony.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — NBC is facing social media criticism for its decision to delay the broadcast of the Olympic Opening Ceremony so it can be shown in primetime in all time zones.

Frequent commercial breaks including eight within the first 65 minutes of the ceremony also proved frustrating for time-shifting viewers accustomed to fast-forwarding through ads.

NBC began its telecasting of the festivities an hour after they began in Rio on Friday night. On the West Coast, the telecast of the Opening Ceremony wasn't set to start for another hour.

NBC also didn't start streaming the event through its app or Olympics website until the television coverage began, and streamers had to authenticate their account with a cable or satellite service.

The network usually plays a cat-and-mouse game to prevent other websites from streaming the event. It remains to be seen how successful it will be.

Viewers took to Twitter to express their frustrations with the number of commercials aired by the network during its coverage of the Opening Ceremony.

"It's so nice of NBC to show some of the Opening Ceremony in-between their commercial marathon," one user tweeted. View more reactions below.

It's fun to watch all the tweets of the Americans in my feed who are watching the #OpeningCeremony on CBC because NBC is delaying it — Mathew Ingram (@mathewi) August 6, 2016

nbc olympics coverage: where there are commercials about commercials — Sam Stryker (@sbstryker) August 6, 2016

The actual #OpeningCeremony is probably ending just about now. Thanks for screwing us over, NBC. <3 — Charles Clymer (@cmclymer) August 6, 2016

First time I've watched an NBC Opening Ceremonies in the U.S. since 2002. Amazing how many commercials so far. — Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) August 6, 2016

Congrats, NBC: You've already killed most of my enthusiasm for the #OlympicGames before they even started. — Ryan McGee (@TVMcGee) August 6, 2016

NBC claiming they delayed an hour so they could provide context. So far...no context. And tired kids. #Rio2016 — Rory Cooper (@rorycooper) August 6, 2016

It's so nice of NBC to show some of the #OpeningCeremony in-between their commercial marathon. — Tom Krieglstein (@tomkrieglstein) August 6, 2016

NBC: Hey guys, let's show 20 seconds of the opening ceremonies and then cut to a 5 minute commercial break. #nbcfail #OpeningCeremony — David Crandall (@DavidCrandall) August 6, 2016

.@NBCOlympics: We won't show the #OpeningCeremony live, but here it is now!

Me: Yay, finally!

NBC: Hold on, commercial break first. — Dianna (@Dianna60613) August 6, 2016