Talk about choice. The BBC has announced on Tuesday (and yes, we sort of missed it, but we didn’t realised it until now) that it will be launching 24 new channels for the duration of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
So, take that Foxtel and Channel Nine.
Previously, these streams were going to be online only. However, it has made a deal with Sky that will allow it to broadcast all 24 HD streams (and another 24 channels broadcasting in SD) on television. This is on top of coverage on its main channels – including BBC One and BBC Two.
Sky has offered to pay for satellite distribution costs – meaning that the BBC only has to handle broadcasting. In order to see it, UK viewers will need to be on Sky or Freesat to see the channels, and potentially more platforms could be added soon.
In comparison, Channel Nine has only confirmed that the games will on its main channel with GEM being a HD simulcast. It also plans to offer a 3D channel. On the Pay-TV side, Foxtel is offering eight dedicated channels of Olympic coverage of games that Channel Nine won’t be covering (and knowing them, could be a very long list).
Just hope that their coverage is going to be better than what they offered in 2006 with the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
via BBC