London – The London Olylmic Games that kick off tomorrow Friday evening with the opening ceremony, has already accredited more than 20,000 journalists, camera crews and other media people. It will also have more hours of programming and more digital technology and cable than any previous international event. It will be the biggest media operation the Games has seen in its entire history, according to the organisers Locog.
The 204 competing nations will parade, as is non-negotiable in an Olympic opening ceremony, and its "spectacular" show is to cost the British Tax payer an astounding $45 million (£27m).
Whether the Games will attract more viewers remains to be seen.
Two thirds of the world's population watched the Beijing Games, according to the global ratings company Nielsen. It said that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games attracted the largest global TV audience ever. It reported: "4.7 billion viewers - or 70% of the world's population - tuned in to watch the Games. In comparison, 3.9 billion watched the 2004 Athens Games, while 3.6 billion followed the 2000 Sydney Games on TV."
If London 2012 doesn't attract a larger TV audience, it will not be attributed to the US TV network NBC, which has broadcast nearly all the summer Olympics since 1964. NBC is in London in force, flying in a team of 2,800 broadcasters, a number that dwarfs the BBC's 765-people crew who will cover the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The British communications regulator Ofcom has called it the "biggest media event in history", and says it has prompted a record demand for wireless spectrum to provide close-up pictures and high-quality sound for an expected global audience of over 4 billion.
Many in the United Kingdom (UK) will be watching on mobile devices, tablets and computers as well as TV sets, further increasing the demand for spectrum.
For the first time, viewers in the UK and the US can watch every event live, on extra TV channels or streamed online.
The BBC is making 24 HD-quality Olympic streams available online and to cable and satellite providers, delivering around 2,500 hours of live sport coverage during the Games. It will also help viewers find their way round it all through a new Interactive Video Player.
The American channel NBC, along with its cable channels such as CNBC and its website, will broadcast 5,535 hours of the London games.
"The network needs as many Olympic viewers as it can muster. Buying the broadcast rights to this year's games, along with the 2010 winter games, cost $2bn (£1.29bn)," reports the Wall Street Journal.
The BBC and NBC are hoping that the London 2012 Olylmic Games will be the biggest media sporting event in history measured by the number of people watching it and not the daily coverage of the event.