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The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio were unique in many ways. NBC, the international broadcaster of the Games, this year leveraged live streaming over the Internet in addition to their television coverage to bring viewers every minute of the competition. By leveraging Akamai (News - Alert), the online video streaming service provider, the network was able to stream a whopping 3.3 billion minutes of content, a vast majority of which were live.

In past years, one of the many complaints from the masses about NBC’s Olympic coverage was the rampant use of tape delays. People were annoyed by having to wait until primetime to see events that they had known the results of hours in advance. The ability to livestream events over the Internet helped eliminate this annoyance.

"The combination of NBC Olympics content and Akamai's online video delivery technology helped set the stage for what was an unprecedented level of digital coverage from Rio,” said NBC Sports’s Executive Vice President and General Manager of Digital Media Rick Cordella. “We not only set new benchmarks for the amount of content delivered; we also for the first time live streamed to connected TVs and introduced virtual reality experiences, all of which provided viewers with more choice than ever for how, when and where they were able enjoy NBC Olympics' coverage from Rio."

NBC’s embracing of online streaming services for their marquee event is the latest in the trend of moving live content from television to Internet streaming services. Earlier this year, the National Football League signed a deal to stream Thursday night games on Twitter (News - Alert). Other networks have also created standalone websites for subscribers to stream live content.

It is important to note, however, that these streaming services have not yet completely opened the door for cord-cutting from television services. Many of these streams still require a login with subscriber credentials. Despite this fact, it is clear that the foundation is there for content to move from traditional television to Internet streaming services. NBC streaming the Olympics online is the largest indicator thus far.