Broadcast of the Olympics Will Be in Partial VR, Courtesy of Samsung

NBC, which holds exclusive broadcasting rights in America for the 2016 Olympics, has announced that 85 hours of content will be shown in virtual reality, capitalizing on the burgeoning interest surrounding the new medium. The catch is that the videos can only be viewed through Samsung’s Gear VR headsets and will require a paid TV subscription.

The events slated for VR broadcasting include the opening and closing ceremonies as well as a decent selection of sporting events such as men’s basketball, beach volleyball, gymnastics, track and field, diving, and fencing.

These videos will all be hosted on a special section of the NBC Sports App (meaning you will also need either a smartphone or a connected TV device) and will be released with a delay so that they are broadcasted a day after the events actually take place. For instance, the opening ceremony will kick off on August 5th, so you can expect to be able to view the event through your Samsung headset on August 6th.

The VR content will be filmed by Olympic Broadcasting Services, which will also be capturing the games in Super-Hi Vision 8K video. This will make the Rio Olympics the first such event to be captured in VR, as the 2012 London Olympics took place months before Oculus Rift even began raising money for its first headset.

NBC is promising that the upcoming summer games will be the “most live Olympics ever”, touting the 4,500 hours of footage it will be streaming on its app.