Olympic rings
The Olympic rings are pictured next to the Aquatics Centre before the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games in London, July 22, 2012.Reuters

The much awaited London Olympics 2012 is all set to kick off on Friday evening, and sports lovers can tune in to British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) television to watch the live coverage of the opening ceremony.

The national television channel Doordarshan will broadcast the London Olympics 2012 live in India. DD India and DD Sports channels will broadcast the events live. Opening ceremony of the mega sporting event will start at 1.30 am IST till 4.00 am (09:00 BST until 11:30 BST) in the wee hours of Saturday.

Flagship Olympic channels, BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC HD, BBC One HD, Red Button service on Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat will cover every sport for viewers in Britain. BBC will broadcast upto 2,500 hours of live coverage during throughout the 17 days sporting event.

For those with 3D TVs can watch the opening ceremony, closing ceremony, 100m final and other major events on the BBCHD channel, which will broadcast in 3D. Five-time Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe and boxing silver medallist Amir Khan have been roped in to give insight during the games.

NBC has retained the broadcasting rights of the Olympics in the United States. NBC along with YouTube will provide livestream of the events. Meanwhile, Nine Network and Foxtel will broadcast in Australia.

ESPN will broadcast the Olympics games in 22 countries in Asia and nine countries in South America. Eurosport has got the broadcasting rights in Europe. China Central Television (CCTV) will broadcast in China while SBS has got the rights in South Korea and North Korea.

IOC has announced that they will provide the livestream on YouTube for 64 territories in Asia and Africa.

London Olympics 2012 will kick start on Friday evening and end on August 12.