Reposted from The Guardian
Channel 4 has been rewarded for its acclaimed coverage of the London 2012 Paralympics by being granted the UK television rights to the Rio 2016 Paralympics and the Sochi Winter Paralympics in 2014.
As part of the deal – the first two-Games TV deal agreed by the International Paralympic Committee – Channel 4 has committed to broadcasting more than 45 hours of coverage from the Sochi Games, and 500 hours from Rio.
The IPC president Sir Philip Craven said: "With London 2012, Channel 4 created a blueprint for how a commercial broadcaster can raise the profile of Paralympic sport and its athletes to new levels. They reached record audiences, in particular of young people, identified and developed some fantastic new presenting talent, and played a significant role in delivering seismic shifts in attitudes and perceptions towards people with an impairment in the UK."
Channel 4's audience during the London 2012 Paralympics peaked at 4.2 million for Oscar Pistorius's gold medal in the T44 400m and retained a regular peak-time audience of more than two million.
The popular The Last Leg programme featuring Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker, which also attracted more than one million views for its end-of-Games hour-long special, will return for Rio.
Channel 4 will cover a number of major international para-sport events in the buildup to the Games, including the IPC world athletics championships in Lyon, and the IPC swimming world championships in Montreal.
Huge congrats from SceneTV!
