Channel 4 announces Sochi Paralympics coverage
Channel 4 has announced that it will broadcast 150 hours of coverage from the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Russia.
The broadcaster is hoping to build on its BAFTA-award winning coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic coverage which helped change attitudes towards disability.
Launching the coverage, Channel 4’s Commissioning Editor for Sport Jamie Aitchison said:
Channel 4’s coverage of London 2012 brought Paralympic sport to the fore to an extent that had never before happened in the UK and helped changed perceptions of disabled sport. I’m delighted that, with over 150 hours of coverage across television and online, we have the opportunity to build on that with by far the biggest ever commitment to covering the Paralympic Winter Games.
Channel 4 and More4 will broadcast 50 hours of live coverage over the ten days of competition, from the Opening Ceremony on Friday March 7th through to the last day of competition on Sunday March 16th – the greatest ever commitment to the Paralympic Winter Games from a UK broadcaster. There will also be two further high definition channels of live streaming available digitally, daily reports on Channel 4 News and special editions of The Last Leg during the Games.
Daily coverage will begin from either 6.00am, 7.00am, 8.00am or 11.30am depending on the programme of events (and will include live coverage from all five of the winter sports – Alpine Skiing, Ice Sledge Hockey, Wheelchair Curling, Biathlon and Cross-country Skiing.
In the lead up to the 2012 Games, Channel 4 identified and trained new presenters and reporters with disabilities and four of that team will be returning to present the Sochi 2014 coverage. Ade Adepitan and Arthur Williams will join Jonathan Edwards and Kelly Cates to anchor coverage from Channel 4’s London presentation studio, and Rachael Latham and Daraine Mulvihill join Iwan Thomas on the ground in Sochi.
Jon Snow will host live coverage of the opening ceremony with commentary provided by fellow Channel 4 News presenter, Krishnan Guru-Murthy. Keme Nzerem, Channel 4 News’ Sports Correspondent, will report from Sochi across the Paralympics with reports in each evening’s news programmes.
Another member of that 2012 team will also return: with Alex Brooker alongside Adam Hills and Josh Widdicombe for two special Sochi editions of hit entertainment show, The Last Leg. The trio will take a look at the weird and wonderful talking points of the week and also look at the stories and highlights from the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Over 100 hours of additional coverage will be broadcast on two Paralympic Extra streams available as video on demand on computer, smartphone and tablet.
The Channel 4 Paralympic website will include fill athlete profiles for all British competitors plus all you need to know about the sports and the international stars competing. There will also be live blogging throughout the games sharing the latest new, photos, videos, comment and opinion.
Additionally, Channel 4 has also commissioned six short films from Boom Pictures profiling some of the ones to watch in Sochi and some of the amazing sports – which will be broadcast in the week leading up to the Games.
Channel 4 announced in February 2012 that it had been awarded the UK television rights for both the Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 Paralympic Games following a competitive tender process by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
