2016 Paralympic Games

Channel 4 today released details of their 2016 Paralympic Coverage

Day-time Presenters
Paralympics Today from 1-7pm each day
JJ Chalmers, Sophie Morgan, Ade Adepitan and Arthur Williams.

Evening Presenters
Clare Balding with Jonathan Edwards and special reports from acclaimed actor, producer and disability activist RJ Mitte.

The Last Leg between 8pm and 9pm every night with Adam Hills and co-hosts Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker live in Rio

From 9pm until 1am Paralympics Tonight with Clare Balding.

Digital Breakfast Show
On All4 at 6am with Formula 1 presenter Lee McKenzie

Reporters
Lee McKenzie, Caroline De Moraes, Steve Brown, Martine Wright, Rishi Persad, Sean Rose, Sophia Warner and Jordan Jarrett-Bryan.

Commentators
Opening & Closing Ceremonies
Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Rob Walker, Liz Johnson and Danny Crates

Athletics
Jonathan Edwards, Iwan Thomas, Stef Reid, Danny Crates, Katharine Merry, Rob Walker, John Rawling and Sonja McLaughlan

Swimming
Rachel Latham, Liz Johnson, Marc Woods, Giles Long and Paul Noble.

Cycling
Simon Brotherton and Neil Smith

Wheelchair Basketball
Ronald McIntosh and Dan Johnson

Wheelchair Tennis
Bob Ballard and Peter Norfolk

Table Tennis
Don Parker

See more at
http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/channel-4-unveils-rio-paralympics-team

[quote="toby lerone 2016" pid="1017008"]Channel 4 today released details of their 2016 Paralympic Coverage

Day-time Presenters
Paralympics Today from 1-7pm each day
JJ Chalmers, Sophie Morgan, Ade Adepitan and Arthur Williams.

Evening Presenters
Clare Balding with Jonathan Edwards and special reports from acclaimed actor, producer and disability activist RJ Mitte.

The Last Leg between 8pm and 9pm every night with Adam Hills and co-hosts Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker live in Rio

From 9pm until 1am Paralympics Tonight with Clare Balding.

Digital Breakfast Show
On All4 at 6am with Formula 1 presenter Lee McKenzie

Reporters
Lee McKenzie, Caroline De Moraes, Steve Brown, Martine Wright, Rishi Persad, Sean Rose, Sophia Warner and Jordan Jarrett-Bryan.

Commentators
Opening & Closing Ceremonies
Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Rob Walker, Liz Johnson and Danny Crates

Athletics
Jonathan Edwards, Iwan Thomas, Stef Reid, Danny Crates, Katharine Merry, Rob Walker, John Rawling and Sonja McLaughlan

Swimming
Rachel Latham, Liz Johnson, Marc Woods, Giles Long and Paul Noble.

Cycling
Simon Brotherton and Neil Smith

Wheelchair Basketball
Ronald McIntosh and Dan Johnson

Wheelchair Tennis
Bob Ballard and Peter Norfolk

Table Tennis
Don Parker

See more at
http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/channel-4-unveils-rio-paralympics-team[/quote

I use to watch the Paralympics every day until now I am glued onto my VCR most of the time

The ad:


Quite surprised they've moved Jonathan Edwards to the prime evening slot alongside Claire Balding. I'd have put Arthur Williams there myself - by far the best of their recruits from 2012.

Wondered where they might slot in The Last Leg and looking at the schedules 8pm works quite well - guess they might keep a full C4 News at 7pm and run a couple of hours of coverage on More4. Also hope they use COM8 for extra streams on Freeview.

C4 News will be on at 7pm I presume but the press release states Clare Balding will be on at 7.30pm-8pm with highlights of the early session, then the Last Leg 8pm-9pm then Clare Balding 9pm-1am although while mentioning Jonathan Edwards it also states Jonathan Edwards & Iwan Thomas will be presenting at the Olympic Stadium for the Athletics so I presume they may be following the BBC model for 2012 where they had a main studio hub with presenters at the stadium for some sports, It's also worth noting that the press release has no mention of Wheelchair Rugby, Football, Judo and some of the other sports which featured heavily in 2012 possibly because Channel 4 may be using the World Feed or possibly focusing on sports in which Great Britain have the biggest contingent of competitors.

Agree fully on Arthur Williams he was excellent and really outshone Georgie Bingham who he presented with in 2012 and she was a long time sports presenter on ESPN and talksport.

Traditionally the Paralympic events haven't had universal coverage and even in London C4 had to supplement the host broadcasters to provide coverage of some events. Not sure on the situation for Rio but I'd have thought the sports you mentioned would be covered by the hosts as they're all in self contained venues - it's thinks like the road cycling which may not get the coverage they'd get for the Olympics.

Missed so much in that press release the first time around. Interesting they'll be using 4Seven for simulcasts of the ceremonies this time around with additional accessiblity features.

As with London 2012 nearly half the sports at this summer’s Paralympic Games in Rio will not be covered live on television, after the host city scrapped plans to pay for an expansion of its coverage. This means that the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) will provide live TV feeds for just 13 of the 22 sports.

Channel 4 has no say over which events are covered live, and has instead pledged to provide its own camera teams “at the finish line” to at least “capture British medal wins and the reaction of athletes after their events”. The sports that OBS will not cover live are goalball, triathlon, rowing, canoeing, sailing, shooting and archery, as well as road cycling, although track cycling will be covered hence why Channel 4 have not revealed commentary teams for every sport.

The same happened in 2012 for example Channel 4 had cameras at the sailing finish, as with the marathon and the road cycling so no surprise.

See more at:
http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/rio-paralympics-scraps-plans-to-expand-number-of-sports-covered-live

I seem to remember in 2012 C4 used ITN crews at some events to cover the finish. Such were the lack of facilities at the road cycling (at Brands Hatch?) I'm pretty sure BBC radio ended up covering it from a roof via a dodgy 3G link.

The issue is that OBS are part of the IOC. The IPC have to pay OBS for the coverage they provide. I can't find the link now but it was reported in the run up to London Paralympics that the BBCs bid had included a commitment to fund (or provide themselves) host broadcast coverage of more events than had been planned by the IPC / OBS. There was a commitment to show a lot more than coverage in previous Paralmypics but not quite to the level of C4s commitment. The IPC decided to take that extra coverage and the extra money but have less events covered in full. Tricky decision for them - the extra money would have been vital and C4 did an excellent job.

Just like in London most of the events that aren't being covered are the 'moving' events that are technically more challenging - and hence more expensive - to broadcast. Those in fixed arenas (especially where there are lots of events over many days) are being focused on.

I hope there is coverage of the wheelchair rugby this time- I was at the final in London and it was fantastic.

Time for crowd funding or donation drive?

It was Brands Hatch; I went - there were a couple of helicopters about, which I assumed were for TV coverage, but I guess they were just for the big screen.

You'd think though if they had pictures to a big screen they could have enabled broadcasters to have access to that.

A shame Rio hasn't been able to kick on in broadcasting terms but worth remembering they won the rights prior to 2012 too - I would hope the IPC have demanded more in the tenders since. It is also worth remembering that universal coverage of the Olympics is still a relatively new thing - think it was only in 2008 that all sports were covered for the first time in full, and even then some multi-court events won't have coverage from all courts.

It's no surprise the events out on the roads or at sea don't get full coverage but a shame those in fixed venues don't. You would think at the very least the IPC would try and get all medal events covered.

There's trouble brewing seems that the IPC and OCOG are meeting 'in crisis session' with the Mayor of Rio and Sponsors tomorrow. The woeful attendance for the first evening session of Athletics (there are vast swathes of empty seats in the upper stands) has triggered panic over the real possibilty that the Paralympics may have virtually empty stadia.

Source? All I found was this, saying games organisers are not disappointed about the crowds: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/37068357