24 Brand New BBC Olympics Channels For Sky And Freesat
With the Olympics upon us the BBC have launched 24 brand new channels for viewing the Olympics being hosted in the United Kingdom. With these brand new channels being launched there will be no shortage of available sport to watch throughout the whole Olympic period. Olympic channels, BBC One, BBC Two (when BBC One switches to the news), BBC Three, BBC HD and BBC One HD will be dedicated to the event over the 17 days of competition. An enhanced video experience will give access to up to 24 live HD streams and coverage via the BBC Sport website on PC and laptop. A free Olympics mobile app will allow audiences to access content on the go. The BBC Olympics mobile browser site, accessible across all mobile devices, will mirror much of the desktop experience, while audiences can also access coverage through tablets and connected TV.
From 6am to 1am the following morning BBC 1 will have live coverage of the games for the whole day. This live coverage will start on the 27th of July and run through to until Sunday 12th of August with the games coming to an end. Many soap lovers will be losing out with this schedule as the only time the Olympics won’t be viewed is the 1pm, 6pm and 10pm news bulletins, so if you’re a fan of daytime TV then you’re going to be missing out as the Olympics will be the only thing aired, with Eastenders and few other shows being aired on BBC 2.
With the Olympics lasting for 17 days and BBC 1 having live coverage all day everyday plus other channels they have launched gives you the opportunity to watch up to 2,500 hours out of the 3,000 hours of sport that will athletes will be competing in. The 2,500 hours broadcast will represent 1,000 hours more than was aired of Beijing 2008.
The BBC’s Red Button service on Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat will offer viewers access to up to 24 live streams covering every sport. There will be an additional 24-hour channel of extra BBC Olympics content available via the Red Button for audiences with Freeview and BT Vision.
The BBC has also been given approval to launch a digital radio service, BBC 5 Live Olympics Extra, for over the course of the Olympics. The temporary station will have a budget of £200,000.
BBC 3 is the other Olympics channel for live coverage with the channel having permission to start broadcasting at 9am rather than the usual 7pm. BBC 3s daytime Olympics coverage will take the place of BBC Parliament on Freeview, although it will be available on other platforms including cable, satellite and online.
There’s now a multitude of ways to catch highlights without there being a dedicated show. London 2012 will be the first truly ‘Digital Olympics’, with viewers able to access the BBC’s coverage through a vast array of different platforms at any time they want and wherever they are. These include traditional TV and radio coverage, interactive coverage via the BBC Red Button, and online across four different platforms: PC, mobile, tablet and connected TVs, including smart TVs and games consoles.
