http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19359123# The countdown has started. Any-one going? Should be a great spectacle and all on Channel 4. Rugby and Basketball are both well worth a look.
Disappointed the Beeb didn't make a bigger effort with their bid to cover the Paralympics on TV. After all, all their kit was there. Channel 4 will be amateurish, at best, and there will be adverts everywhere, which is the real killer. Apparently, they have signed up Claire Balding and Jonathan Edwards for presentation, but the rest are going to be kids with little idea. I suppose they have to cut their teeth somewhere, but in the biggest tournament for disabled athletes..? It will be on BBC Radio 5 Live, which was how I received most of my coverage of the Olympics, unless the British team got a medal, and then it was very much via the Beeb's superb internet access. Mind you, our Paras are the best in the World, or they were last time out in 2008, so I suspect I might have to find that unused 4 on my remote control. Won't be the same though.
Agree TSS but should still be a real spectacle. You can't fault BBC coverage of major events just hope Channel $ can make a good fist of it. TBF they do OK with Horse Racing at the big meetings.
Well I hope so. I think I've mentioned enough times before that I don't watch much TV anyway, but my commercial TV watching is practically zero. Personal experience in the past shows that the programmes are invariably crap, due to being watered down to catch the most viewers, and the amount of adverts per hour is astonishingly high. I don't waste my time with it. I'll probably record a few things so I can instantly skip the adverts.
So what did everyone think of the opening ceremony? I thought it was quite random, but enjoyable. Stephen Hawking's pretty awesome. I don't get why there was so much to do with the Tempest, but I haven't read it but I guess there's probably some way it relates?
I know Simon peach is well linked with saints...well as well as one can be but I am getting a bit fed up with him updating every 5 mins about some random olympian doing this or that!!!!
Yes especially when I want to see Ramirez signs! Opening ceremony went on a bit for me but still enjoyable. Let's see the medals roll in now!
This is what happens when the licence fee gets cut. BBC lose their sports coverage and all sports fans suffer.
Has already made it unwatchable for me. Such a shame. The adverts aren't even "quick" (as the presenters keep saying). Must be a good 4 or 5 minutes of adverts each time. Just no flow to it and seems like no red button service or additional channels. Studio location is very odd too. Why arn't they overlooking the park? I presume lack of money. I'm sure Sky will be saying "told you so" as C4 are not set up for something this big.
Adverts are very irritating but Balding and Ade are good presenters. Making it all easy to understand. Think it's well worth persevering!
I see Jake and Scott Sinclair's brother Martin is in the GB Cerebral Palsy footie team. Go @MartinSinclair1
Just seems that every 15 minutes we get 5 minutes worth of adverts, also the presenters excluding the ones use by BBC aren't up to BBC standard. It is very humbling to see these incredible athletes achieving feats that the majority of us able-bodied people would find impossible to do, although I am sceptical of the classing of disability system, in some of the events it seems some have a big advantage over other competitors whose disability affects them more in a specific way. I don't really know the ins and outs of the system so won't go too far into that though. Will still watch bits and pieces of the games but will not think twice of turning over when the adverts come on. It says a lot that I have spent the evening watching Grabarsz/Bolt/Blake and co. on BBC2 rather than the paralympic games.
The government & the sport disliking outgoing durector general are the reasons why the BBC did not get the paralympics. Lack of money & the governments 'competution rule derailed their bid; appalling that competition scuppers this bid but allows Hunt to give Murdoch & his Sky buddies a monopoly on football coverage in the UK.
I listened in to loads of Paralympics on Radio 5 today. Came home, switched on the PC, went to 4OD, complete rubbish. Wouldn't even start up. That's how bloody amateurish Channel 4 are. They haven't even tested their LIVE on-line coverage sufficiently. I ended up watching Diamond League Athletics from Zurich on BBC2. I actually want to watch the Paras, but I'm blowed if I'm going to switch on my TV, when I could watch Paralympics, AND do other things at the same time. Whoever said Men couldn't multi-function..?
If you have sky, there are three dedicated channels that are advert free showing the Paralympics. Channels 450, 451 & 452 (HD)
Nope. Ain't going to happen. Rupert Murdoch has never seen a ghost of a penny from me, and it isn't going to start now, whatever the tournament. A principle is a principle. SKY TV has to lose every vestige of every Murdoch motivation and then some, and after many years of Murdoch free practice, I may begin to consider them worthy of consideration of TV coverage. Until then [if ever] it isn't going to happen. Do I leave even the last person in doubt..?
