NBC has already hinted at plans to capitalize on the exponential interest surrounding VR by adding the format to its planned wall-to-wall Olympic coverage, but for the first time, the Rio broadcasting network is shedding some real light on how it intends to do so.
The plan revolves around Gear VR — exclusively, in fact. Owners of Samsung’s headset (and compatible Galaxy phones, naturally) will get access to 85 hours of VR content, accessible through the NBC Sports app. The list includes the opening and closing ceremonies and a decent cross-section of sports, including men’s basketball, track and field, gymnastics, boxing, beach volleyball, fencing and diving.
All the content will be available on a delay of a day or so, throughout the games. The network will also be editing together VR-enabled highlight reels of the aforementioned sports. The Rio opening ceremony is set to kick off on Friday, August 5.
Samsung is, go figure, the Official Smartphone Partner for the Summer Olympics. For its part, NBC has previously announced some 4K and 8K content during what it’s calling the “most live Olympics ever,” thanks to the 4,500 hours of coverage it plans to stream through its app.