Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony Offered On DVD... Twice

I’m really not into the whole Olympic thing this year. I don’t know why. Traditionally, the summer games are my favorite part of the Olympics, but between the constant complaining about the evil regime of China, the smog and weather, and every other controversy that inevitably will pop up, I just couldn’t care less.

Some of you don’t share my cynicism, however. In fact, a lot of you are going hog-wild about the Olympics, particularly that opening ceremony that aired on TV Friday from Beijing. As usual, where there is interest, major companies are going to do their best to come up with supply. NBC and Chinese Central Television are already advertising separate Olympic DVD offerings.

The NBC Universal store has a DVD on presale that will contain highlights from this year’s games, advertising the disc will contain, “All the drama and excitement… from the pageantry of the Opening Ceremony to the extinguishment of the Olympic fame.” Sounds just like what any Olympic nut needs. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Highlights DVD will run you $19.95 and ships out on September 30th.

Meanwhile, China International TV Corporation (affiliated with China Central Television) is releasing DVDs specifically of the opening and closing ceremonies of the events, as well as their own highlight reels. Their website is advertising a two-disc opening ceremony release, a single disc closing ceremony, a three-disc set of both, and a two-disc set of “splendid moments” of all of the games. You’re calling an international number to place an order, however, so I suspect they’ll probably be a Region 6 release (US uses Region 1 encoding). Most likely that means NBC’s release will be the better bet for American Olympic fans.

So there you have it. Interested in commemorating this year’s Olympic games, head over to NBC’s store or CCTV’s website to reserve your copy today.