FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 6th, 2014

MATT LAUER & MEREDITH VIEIRA HOST OPENING CEREMONY OF 2014 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES TOMORROW, FRIDAY, FEB. 7 ON NBC AT 7:30 P.M. ET

LIVE Coverage of Day 1 of the Sochi Games Kicks Off Saturday, February 8, on NBCSN and MSNBC

Saturday’s LIVE Coverage Begins at 3 a.m. ET on NBCSN 

Stamford, Conn, – February 6, 2014 – NBCUniversal’s coverage of the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi continues tomorrow, Friday, February 7 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC with the Opening Ceremony hosted by Matt Lauer, co-anchor of TODAY, and Meredith Vieira, special correspondent for TODAY.

Lauer and Vieira will be joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New Yorker editor David Remnick, with NBC Olympics primetime host Bob Costas anchoring the ceremony from the International Broadcast Center in Sochi. The Opening Ceremony will feature a compelling journey through Russia’s history and culture and the Parade of Nations, culminating with the lighting of the Olympic flame.

Day 1 of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games begins Saturday, February 8, on NBCSN at 3 a.m. ET with live coverage of women’s hockey as 2010 Vancouver Olympic silver medalist Team USA begins its title bid against bronze medalist Finland. NBCSN’s coverage on Saturday continues at 5:30 a.m. ET with the gold medal finals for women’s skiathlon and the men’s speed skating 5000m event. At 8 a.m. ET on Saturday, MSNBC will feature live coverage of women’s hockey with 2010 Vancouver Olympic gold medalist Canada vs. Switzerland.

NBC’s Saturday primetime coverage will feature the ladies’ and ice dance teams skating their short programs on the second day of the inaugural team figure skating competition. 2010 Olympic silver medalists and reigning World ice dance champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White are expected to anchor a strong American team for the short program. Also making its Olympic debut is men’s snowboard slopestyle, featuring a trio of high-flying Canadians, including 20-year-old phenom Mark McMorris. Women’s moguls will round out primetime coverage as Hannah Kearney returns to the Olympics in hopes of becoming her sport’s first American champion.

NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra app will allow cable, satellite and telco customers to live stream more than 1,000 exclusive hours of Sochi Olympics content, including all sports, all competition and all medal events. The NBC Olympics Highlights and Results app will be home to up-to-date TV and online streaming schedules, live results, athlete profiles and replays of the Games’ most memorable moments. In addition, through the “Primetime Companion” section, the app will serve as the signature second-screen tool for NBC’s nightly primetime coverage.

For more information on live streaming, please go to: NBCOlympics.com/LiveExtra

For the full schedule of NBCUniversal’s Olympic coverage, please go to: NBCOlympics.com

For press information, bios, photos and releases, please go to: NBCSportsGroupPressBox.com

Listings subject to change (all times ET unless otherwise noted).

 

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7 (DAY 0)

NBC

7:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.

Opening Ceremony

­1:05 a.m. – 5 a.m.

Primetime Encore

NBC HIGHLIGHTS (Primetime): The Opening Ceremony will feature a compelling journey through Russia’s history and culture and the Parade of Nations, culminating with the lighting of the Olympic flame.

 

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8 (DAY 1)

NBC

2:30 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Men’s Ski Jumping – Individual K-95 Competition

Men’s Biathlon – 10km Sprint Gold Medal Final

Men’s Speed Skating – 5000m Gold Medal Final

Women’s Cross-Country – Skiathlon Gold Medal Final

8 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.

Figure Skating – Team Event

Ice Dancing Short Dance

Ladies’ Short Program

Men’s Snowboarding – Slopestyle Gold Medal Final

Women’s Freestyle Skiing – Moguls Gold Medal Final

Midnight – 1 a.m.

Figure Skating – Team Event

Pairs’ Free Skate

Men’s Luge – Singles Competition

1 a.m. – 4:30 a.m.

Primetime Encore

NBCSN

3 a.m. – 5:30 a.m.

Women’s Hockey – USA vs. Finland (LIVE)

5:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Women’s Cross-Country – Skiathlon Gold Medal Final (LIVE)

Men’s Speed Skating – 5000m Gold Medal Final (LIVE)

9:30 a.m. – 11 a.m.

Figure Skating – Team Event

Ice Dancing Short Dance (LIVE)

11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Figure Skating – Team Event

Ladies’ Short Program (LIVE)

Pairs’ Free Skate (LIVE)

6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Game of the Day: Women’s Hockey – USA vs. Finland

MSNBC

8 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Women’s Hockey – Canada vs. Switzerland (LIVE)

NBC HIGHLIGHTS (Primetime):

  • Figure Skating Team Event – Short Dance, Ladies’ Short Program: For the first time in Olympic history, figure skaters of all four disciplines compete on the same team in this new event. On day two of the three-day competition, the ladies and ice dance teams skate their short programs, with 2010 Olympic silver medalists and reigning world champions in ice dance Meryl Davis and Charlie White expected to anchor a strong American team.
  • Snowboarding – Men’s Slopestyle Gold Medal Final: Slopestyle, a new judged event in which riders perform tricks and high-flying jumps over a downhill course, makes its debut in Sochi, promising to bring to the Games the same excitement that has characterized snowboard halfpipe. The men’s event will feature a trio of high-flying Canadians, including 20-year-old phenom Mark McMorris.
  • Women’s Freestyle Skiing – Moguls Gold Medal Final: Hannah Kearney returns to the Olympics in hopes of becoming her sport’s first champion. Since winning gold in Vancouver, Kearney has dominated women’s moguls, capturing the 2013 world title and the moguls World Cup title the past three seasons.

NBC HIGHLIGHTS (Daytime):

  • Men’s Ski Jumping – Individual K-95 Competition: Switzerland’s Simon Ammann has shown his ability to rise to the occasion at the Olympics, sweeping both individual events in 2002 and 2010, but the spotlight may be on Austrian star Gregor Schlierenzauer, who collected three medals in Vancouver.
  • Men’s Biathlon – 10km Sprint Gold Medal Final: A combination of fast skiing and precise shooting, biathlon remains the only winter sport in which the U.S. has never won an Olympic medal. But New York native Tim Burke will look to change that in Sochi, where he will face tough competition from the home team. Russian Biathlon Union president Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire tycoon who also owns the Brooklyn Nets, set a goal of two or three gold medals for his athletes at the Games.
  • Men’s Speed Skating – 5000m Gold Medal Final: Reigning Olympic champion Sven Kramer of the Netherlands will be hard to beat, but the home crowd will be pulling for 2010 bronze medalist Ivan Skobrev, who competes for Russia but spends offseasons in Connecticut, where his family has lived for the last 15 years.
  • Women’s Cross-Country – Skiathlon Gold Medal Final: Norway’s Marit Bjorgen won this event in Vancouver and has a chance to challenge the all-time Olympic Winter Games women’s record of 10 medals. She enters Sochi with seven.

NBC HIGHLIGHTS (Late Night):

  • Figure Skating Team Event – Pairs’ Free Skate: Following the short program phase, the field is cut from ten teams to five. The free skating phase begins with pairs, with the Americans expected to be in medal contention.
  • Men’s Luge – Singles Competition: Luge legend Armin Zoeggeler of Italy will attempt to become the first Olympian – summer or winter – to win six consecutive medals in the same individual event.

NBCSN HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Women’s Hockey – USA vs. Finland: The U.S. women have won medals at all four Olympic tournaments but no gold since 1998. They begin their title bid LIVE against 2010 bronze medalist Finland, which upset the Americans 3-1 in November. Finland goalie Noora Raty, who made 58 saves in that game, led the University of Minnesota to its second consecutive national title and the first undefeated season in women’s NCAA hockey history last year.
  • Women’s Cross-Country – Skiathlon Gold Medal Final: Norway’s Marit Bjorgen won this event in Vancouver and has a chance to challenge the all-time Olympic Winter Games women’s record of 10 medals. She enters Sochi with seven and begins her attempt LIVE in the event she won in Vancouver.
  • Men’s Speed Skating – 5000m Gold Medal Final: Reigning Olympic champion Sven Kramer of the Netherlands attempts to defend his title LIVE in the 5000m. But the home crowd will be pulling for 2010 bronze medalist Ivan Skobrev, who competes for Russia but spends offseasons in Connecticut, where his family has lived for the last 15 years.
  • Figure Skating Team Event – Short Dance, Ladies’ Short Program, Pairs’ Free Skate: For the first time in Olympic history, figure skaters of all four disciplines compete on the same team in this new event. On day two of the three-day competition, the ladies and ice dance teams skate their short programs LIVE, with 2010 Olympic silver medalists and reigning world champions in ice dance Meryl Davis and Charlie White expected to anchor a strong American team. The top five nations will qualify for the free skate round, beginning with pairs immediately following the ladies’ short program.

– NBC OLYMPICS –