LONDON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Major British media organizations provided extensive coverage to the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony Friday, calling it China's show of confidence.

    Britain's Olympic and Paralympic broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), ran live broadcasts of the opening ceremony on its BBC1 and BBC high definition channels.

    Huw Edwards, who delivered the running commentary with Sue Barker in Beijing, noted the confidence showed by China in the opening ceremony.

    A presenter with Eurosport, another British TV channel that broadcast Beijing's opening ceremony live, hailed the Beijing Games as "bigger than anything imaginable," calling the ceremony an "extraordinary" and "extravagant" presentation.

    Major British newspapers also updated their websites with news on the ceremony, with the Guardian displaying a photo captioned "Beijing Olympics take flight" showing the Bird's Nest being lit up by fireworks, accompanied by a story titled "Beijing Olympics open with spectacular ceremony."

    "The costumery might have been delivered by Hollywood," Guardian sports reporter Kevin Mitchell wrote in his blog.

    The Independent also posted a brightly lit Bird's Nest photo on its website.

    In the Reuters story titled "China throws open doors to the world," the reporter says: "A legion of 2008 drummers... was the perfect countdown to a spectacular Olympic opening ceremony today that showcased one of the world's oldest civilizations."

    "The extravaganza, cramming 5,000 years of history into just one evening, avoided many of the cliched images of China - no pandas, no red lanterns and no dragon dances," it added.

    The Times announced it would run round-the-clock coverage of the Beijing Games, while the Daily Telegraph website displayed photos of international faces on umbrellas with Liu Huan and Sarah Brightman on top of the globe model.

    A story published by the Daily Telegraph titled "Beijing Olympics opens with dazzling ceremony" said: "China has come to a standstill for the ceremony, as there has been overwhelming support for the Games from the Chinese public, many of whom see it as the most exciting event of their lifetime."