BBC Parliament To Show Olympics
The BBC has opted to withdraw digital channel BBC Parliament and replace it with live coverage of the Beijing Olympics for the duration of the Games this summer.
BBC Parliament’s Freeview capacity will be used to ‘enhance’ the quality of the interactive TV streaming the BBC is planning to use for the Olympics, which take place between 8th and 24th August.
The BBC said that as all the UK’s parliaments and assemblies will be in recess during August, using the channel for Olympics coverage would make the best use of its capacity during a busy sports period.
BBC management had to ask the BBC Trust for permission to change BBC Parliament’s content for the Olympics.
The Trust gave permission at its monthly meeting in March, saying a public value test was not required.
But the Trust added that if any of the UK’s parliaments or assemblies were reinstated during the Olympics the normal BBC Parliament service should be resumed.
The BBC is due to officially unveil its Olympic coverage plans next month, but the event is expected to dominate the main BBC outlets including BBC1, BBC2 and BBC Radio 5 Live.
The BBC will launch a number of specialised Olympic ‘red button’ interactive streams, which it has previously used during major sporting events including the 2004 Athens Olympics.
