London 2012 Unveils Big Screen Network
The London 2012 Olympics organising committee has announced it is to broadcast the Beijing Games on big screens in city centres around the country.
Funded by the National Lottery through the Olympic Lottery Distributor (OLD) and London 2012 partners Lloyds TSB and BT, the initiative will see permanent big screen structures put up in Cardiff, Middlesbrough, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Swansea, and Waltham Forest.
Planning permission is also pending for further screens in Bristol and Norwich.
The London 2012 organising committee is working with the BBC to provide content for the screens but it will include coverage of the Games and the official handover at the closing ceremony when London officially becomes the Olympic host city.
In addition to these big structures, they’ll be boosted around the country by over 20 other screens.
Three screens will be erected for the 2008 Games in Canary Wharf (London), Leicester and Trafalgar Square. Further screens will also be operating for the handover day in Belfast, Glasgow, Herne Bay, Notting Hill and Weymouth, funded by LOCOG and in Hackney, Greenwich, Coventry, Kettering, Southend-on-Sea and Great Yarmouth and other areas funded by local authorities and organisations.
These sites will be operated by each of the communities involved, but on 24th August it is expected that they will become the hub of activity for communities centred around the Handover moment – be it sport, music or dance and will include a mass sing-a-long as part of the ‘Sing The Nation’ programme.
Regional choirs will lead 15 minutes of collective singing in each of the locations with a choir at several big screen sites throughout the country, performing three songs: a simple choice to get everyone warmed up; a song of regional significance and a national song which is being arranged by National Youth Choirs.
On 24th August, the network of screens, known as ‘Live Sites’, will show the Visa London 2012 Party live from the Mall, where 40,000 people will gather to watch the show. Tickets for the Mall party have already been allocated via a ballot, which was over subscribed.
It will also be broadcast live to the rest of the nation on BBC One and BBC Radio 2 and will feature performances from music artists including The Feeling, Il Divo, Katherine Jenkins, Russell Watson and McFly marking the moment when London becomes the official Host City of the Summer Olympic Games.
Featuring unique collaborations and specially-arranged performances, some with a sporting theme, the show from the Mall will sync with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Closing Ceremony at which London Mayor Boris Johnson will be symbolically handed the Olympic flag, officially marking the start of London’s tenure as Summer Host city in front of a worldwide audience estimated to be around 1.5 billion.
