| Paralympics getting more media attention | | Print | |
| Written by Rock de Vera |
| Friday, 12 March 2010 13:03 |
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The 2010 Winter Paralympic Games are underway with 10 days of promising competition. 
The much sought after Paralympic gold medal. (Courtesy: melkimmett12/flickr)
Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium is in charge of broadcasting the games and they're boasting a record 57 hours of high definition coverage from Vancouver. This marks the most hours of coverage ever delivered to Canadian audiences. It is also the first time the Paralympic games will be broadcast in high definition. "Canada's Paralympians have excelled in the world stage," said Keith Pelley, President of Canada's Olympic Broadcast Consortium, in a media release."They are a huge source of national pride and we know they will continue to do us proud." In past Games, coverage of the Paralympics were nearly non-existent. The events were shown on a one week delay with brief highlights at the bottom of sportscasts.This time, Canadians will enjoy the games as they happen live from Vancouver. In the United States, NBC is covering the Paralympics by having two hour segments for the duration of the Paralympic games. It will also broadcast the opening ceremonies. In addition to the Paralympic roster of sponsors, Visa and Samsung have recently jumped on board as a worldwide partners of the Paralympic games. "The Paralympic Games is part of the Olympic movement," Samsung vice-president Gyehyun Kwon, the company's head of worldwide sports marketing, told the Canadian Press. "It's inseparable." The interest for Olympic sponsorship have been gaining ground. The head of the Canadian Paralympic Committee, Carla Qualtrough, told the Canadian Press that early investors will get their money's worth "...because the value of the movement will increase." "You can get a lot more bang for your buck when you sponsor the Paralympic side," said Qualtrough. "There's not as many rules, there's not as many conditions." But while the Paralympic torch continues to shine, some broadcasters are still reluctant to invest valuable airtime into the games. The BBC has been recently criticized for its limited coverage of the 2010 Paralympic games by angry viewers. Lewis Wiltshire, the editor of the BBC Sport website, cited budget restrictions for the limited TV coverage. "There are provisional plans in place to stream the curling live through the BBC Sport website and BBC Red Button if the GB team make the medal rounds and we will also be broadcasting a one-hour highlights programme on March 22, on BBC2," he said. Regardless of the attention media groups are paying to the Paralympics, they are underway. Total coverage of the 2010 Winter Paralympic games can be seen on www.paralympicsport.tv. |
