On commercial breaks, the NBC spokesperson said the delay enabled it to insert ads into the broadcast without depriving viewers of much of the ceremony. "It's not a sports competition," a NBC Sports spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Reuters during the ceremony. American TV viewers used social media to vent their anger at US broadcaster NBC for delaying the screening of the opening ceremony of the Rio Games by an hour then going to repeated commercial breaks during the show. "Just staggeringly irritating that - 20 years after the birth of the web - NBC still shows the Olympics with a time delay," Baker tweeted. "It's a cultural ceremony that requires deep levels of understanding, with numerous camera angles and our commentary laid over it.

Source: Otago Daily Times August 06, 2016 02:37 UTC