Paralympics celebrate 60 years of competition in Beijing

The Paralympics celebrate 60 years of competition in Beijing

Paralympics coverage expands to the Web

It won't come close to the hours of coverage available on televisions and computer screens across North America during last month's Olympic Games.

But a plan to show a minimum of eight hours of live, commentated Paralympic competition on the Internet each day of the Games is being touted as a great leap forward for Paralympic sports.

"The International Paralympic Committee is very happy about this great commitment for the worldwide distribution of the Games," IPC president Philip Craven said while confirming the plan on Thursday.

"It is superb news for those who do not have the opportunity to watch the Paralympics on TV."

Paralympic Games live footage will be available, free of charge, on the IPC's Internet TV channel paralympicsport.tv, as well as on YouTube at www.youtube.com/paralympicsporttv.

The program was announced after the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Co. agreed to provide live signals of 12 Paralympic sports: athletics, boccia, track cycling, seven-a-side soccer, judo, swimming, table tennis, sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair tennis.

In addition to the live events, paralympicsport.tv will broadcast a daily news show, with additional highlights -- including sports that won't be live-streamed -- available as video-on-demand.

A schedule of events can be found at www.paralympic.org.

Alpine skiing, sledge hockey, nordic skiing and wheelchair curling were broadcast live online from the 2006 Winter Paralympic Games in Turin, Italy.

But the Beijing program is much more ambitious, given the number of sports.

In the United States, daily live and delayed highlight shows will be broadcast on www.universalsports.com.

"We welcome this opportunity to expand our audience in the United States, and show what a magnificent event this will be," Craven told reporters.

"The Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games are hitting a number of milestones and the broadcasting with Universal Sports will most certainly bring in more Paralympic enthusiasts."

Apart from the host country, few broadcasters devote much time to Paralympic sports. The BBC in Great Britain is a notable example.


Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games Photos