Rockefeller Center 2022 Christmas Tree Lighting: How To Watch

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — With this year's 14-ton, 82-foot-tall Norway spruce safely installed in the middle of Rockefeller Plaza, it's time for Midtown's biggest holiday tradition: the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting, which is set for Wednesday.

The Nov. 30 ceremony will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern, airing live on NBC with the title "Christmas at Rockefeller Center."

The pine tree has been adorned with more than 50,000 multicolored LED lights that stretch roughly 5 miles long, topped with a three-dimensional Swarovski star weighing 900 pounds and laden with 3 million crystals, according to Rockefeller Center.

This will be the 90th tree-lighting ceremony for Rockefeller Center — and this year's tree is, appropriately, estimated to be about 90 years old.

It was cut down in the upstate town of Queensbury earlier this month, and will be milled into lumber and donated to Habitat for Humanity following its run in Midtown, like all its predecessors since 2007.

Wednesday's ceremony will feature a duet by Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton, plus other performances by Andrea Bocelli, Alicia Keys, Jimmie Allen, the Muppets of Sesame Street, and others. (In past years, the actual lighting has happened closer to 10 p.m.)

The TV program will be hosted by TODAY co-anchors Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Craig Melvin, as well as Mario Lopez of "Access Hollywood."

Following Wednesday's lighting, the tree will remain lit daily from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m., then 24 hours on Christmas Day and 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on New Year's Day.

To ease holiday crowds, the city committed this month to eliminating car traffic from 11 Midtown blocks, including streets surrounding Rockefeller Center starting on Wednesday.

Related coverage:

• 2022 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Arrives, With No Owls In Sight
• Midtown, Fifth Avenue Will Go Pedestrian-Only For NYC Holiday Season