Channel 4 Wins London 2012 Paralympic Rights

Following a highly competitive tender process, the London 2012 organising committee LOCOG has awarded the UK broadcast rights for the Paralympic Games to Channel 4, marking the first time that the event has not been screened by the BBC in over 30 years.

The deal with Channel 4 will provide the Paralympic Games and Paralympic sport with the strongest pre-Games broadcast coverage and marketing support it has ever received on UK television as well as 150 hours of coverage during the Games themselves.

As an example Channel 4 will be completely rebranded with a Paralympic theme after the London 2012 Olympic Games finish.

Additionally, every penny LOCOG has raised from selling the rights will be invested to provide the biggest and broadest TV feed of the Paralympic Games ever.

The deal includes multi-platform broadcast rights within the UK, with non-exclusive rights in the Republic of Ireland.

Channel 4 will produce and screen two peak time 10 part documentaries in 2011 and 2012, building the stories of the athletes and their journey to the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

It will also include dedicated coverage of the Paralympic Torch Relay and will be supported by the biggest marketing campaign in the broadcaster’s history.

Channel 4 will also cover key disability sports and sporting events, in the run up to the Paralympic Games in 2012.

At Games-time, Channel 4 will deliver over 150 hours of coverage of the Paralympic Games, with over 130 hours on their core channel (Channel 4).

The coverage will be led by a flagship peak-time show, and extensive coverage will also be provided on mobile and online. Subtitling and audio description will form part of all the programming, ensuring the widest possible audience can enjoy the Games.

Lord Burns, Channel 4’s Chairman Designate, said: ‘For Channel 4, the London Paralympic Games will be the main event, not a sideshow to the Olympics; the Games will define our year in 2012 and take over Channel 4 for their duration.

‘The Paralympics will be one of the most significant sporting events to be staged in Britain for many years and we’re confident the more comprehensive and more cross-platform coverage we are offering can connect the Games with the widest possible cross-section of British viewers.’

Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of LOCOG, added: ‘The eyes of the world will be focussed on the Paralympic Games – the world’s second biggest multi-sport event – in London in 2012.

‘We are absolutely delighted to appoint Channel 4 as our broadcast partner in the UK. Channel 4 shares our vision for the Paralympic Games, has a very strong appeal to young people, and will play a hugely important role in increasing public engagement and involvement in Paralympic sport in this country.

‘We are confident that the quality and depth of the broadcast coverage provided by Channel 4 not just for the 12 days of sport in 2012, but in the two and a half years leading up to the Games, will inspire disabled people of all ages to take up sport and be a catalyst for continued change in public attitudes towards disability. The commercial value of this deal has raised the bar financially for the Paralympic movement. ‘

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson commented: ‘I am pleased that the Paralympic Games will be shown by a terrestrial broadcaster in the UK in 2012. Channel 4 has some exciting plans for its coverage and marketing support. I look forward to seeing these plans progress in the coming months and years ahead on the road to London 2012.’

The BBC has covered Paralympic sport since the 1980 Summer Paralympics, which took place in Arnheim.

The BBC, which has already secured the broadcast rights to the 2012 Olympics, issued a statement saying: ‘We are disappointed to have not been awarded the rights to the 2012 Paralympic Games.

‘We’re proud of our traditions and record in covering disability sport. However, we are pleased that the Games will be available to free to air audiences, and we congratulate Channel Four on securing the rights. We are sure the 2012 Paralympics will be a great success.’

The Paralympics are scheduled to begin on 29th August in the summer of 2012, two weeks after the end of the Olympics.

LOCOG will begin the tender process for the international broadcast rights to the Paralympic Games later this year.