How to watch the Olympics Opening Ceremony on TV, internet

The Rio Olympics Opening Ceremony will air at 7:30 p.m. on NBC TV on Friday.

The event begins at 4 p.m. Pacific Time, but is delayed for prime time across the country.

Streaming options include the NBC Sports app or go to NBColympics.com - both will require a login with cable subscription after 30 minutes.

Follow live updates from Southe Califoia News Group reporters Scott Reid and Jeff Miller, along with tweets from Southe Califoia Athletes on our live blog here.

Samba and pop music singers are expected to perform, including Grammy award wiers Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. Supermodel Gisele Bundchen will also be on hand.

But the climax of the show, the lighting of the cauldron, depends on whether Brazil’s most famous athlete — soccer star Pele — appears. He said this week he was invited to take part, but business deals were stopping him from doing it.

The cauldron was designed by American sculptor Anthony Howe, who told The Associated Press he was inspired by life in the tropics. There will be two cauldrons in Rio, one at the Maracana soccer stadium that is hosting the opening ceremony and another open to the public in downtown Rio.

The cauldron in central Rio is expected to be lit by a ruer after the opening ceremony is finished, Howe said.

The floor of the stadium will be a vast stage for projections, a substitute for more expensive structures in a nod to Brazil’s economic troubles.

In all, 4,800 performers and volunteers will be involved in the show, which is built on three basic pillars of life in Brazil. Those are sustainability, particularly re-forestation; finding joy in life and in being Brazilian; and the idea of “gambiarra,” the quirky Brazilian art of improvising repairs using whatever parts are available.

• RELATED: Complete breakdown of 6755 hours of Olympics coverage.

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