Coming off the most successful Olympic Winter Games in Canadian history, the country is now primed to watch Canada’s Paralympic athletes excel on the world stage. Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium will deliver a record 57 hours of high-definition television coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in English and French from March 12-21.
This marks the most hours of coverage ever delivered to Canadian audiences and the first time the Paralympic Winter Games are being produced entirely in HD by a Canadian rightsholder. The Consortium’s offering includes 27 hours of coverage in English on CTV, TSN and Rogers Sportsnet as well as 30 hours of coverage in French on RDS and RIS Info Sports. Highlights include the Opening Ceremony, live coverage of Team Canada’s sledge hockey games, and a daily 90-minute recap show with all of the day’s highlights, results and medal standings.
“Canada’s Paralympians have excelled on the world stage. They are a huge source of national pride and we know they will continue to do us proud,” said Keith Pelley, President of Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium. “Along with live event coverage and highlights, we will tell the athletes’ stories of determination and accomplishments, as they go for gold in 2010.”
The English broadcast team for the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games features Brian Williams as host of the Opening Ceremony, Dave Randorf as play-by-play announcer for sledge hockey games with Jake Snyder and Mark Gallant as analysts, while Jamie Campbell hosts the highlights show. In French, Claude Mailhot and Claudine Douville anchor the Opening Ceremony. Douville will also provide play-by-play for sledge hockey with analyst Jonathan Plante, while Mailhot will be seen daily on the recap show.
The Consortium’s coverage will also be available on TAC (The Accessible Channel), a digital television service for people who are blind, vision-impaired, deaf or hard of hearing, and on Voiceprint, an audio newsstand that broadcasts top stories from Canadian newspapers and magazines into Canadian homes. In addition to television, the Consortium’s multi-platform coverage includes radio, print and two dedicated websites – CTVParalympics.ca and RDSparalympiques.ca, which will provide news, results, photos, features and the broadcast schedule.
The Consortium’s radio partners, Rogers Radio and Corus Québec, will provide regular updates and highlights throughout the Paralympic Games. The Globe and Mail, the Consortium’s national print partner, will produce a special eight-page section on the Paralympic Games, available on newsstands March 11. This stand-alone section will highlight the accomplishments of Paralympians and include athlete profiles and features, as well as Canada’s standings and medal counts from previous Games.
The Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games take place March 12 to 21 in Vancouver and Whistler. This 10-day international competition features approximately 650 athletes from more than 40 countries taking part in five sports: alpine skiing, crosscountry skiing, sledge hockey, wheelchair curling, and biathlon. Canada is the reigning Paralympic Games champion in sledge hockey, having defeated Norway in the Turin 2006 gold medal game. Vancouver 2010 marks the first time Canada has hosted a Paralympic Winter Games; in 1976, Toronto hosted the Paralympic Summer Games.
Broadcast Schedule – Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games
(visit CTV.ca to confirm local broadcast times on CTV)
Saturday, March 13
Opening Ceremony
- 2 p.m. ET on CTV, RIS Info Sports
Sledge Hockey: Canada vs. Italy
- 1 p.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet Pacific (live)
- 4 p.m. ET on CTV and RIS Info Sports
Sunday, March 14
Sledge Hockey: Canada vs. Sweden
- 4:30 p.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet (national) (live)
- 8 p.m. ET on RIS Info Sports
Daily Highlights
- 3 p.m. ET on CTV
- 10 p.m. ET on RDS
Monday, March 15
Daily Highlights
- 3:30 p.m. ET on TSN
- 4:30 p.m. ET on RDS
Tuesday, March 16
Sledge Hockey: Canada vs. Norway
- 11:30 p.m. ET on TSN and RDS (live)
Daily Highlights
- 2 a.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet East
- 2:30 a.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet Ontario
- 4:30 p.m. ET on RDS
- 5:30 p.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet West
- 6:30 p.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet Pacific
Wednesday, March 17
Daily Highlights
- 1:30 a.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet Ontario
- 2 a.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet East
- 4:30 p.m. ET on RDS
- 5:30 p.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet West
- 6:30 p.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet Pacific
Thursday, March 18
Sledge Hockey Semifinals
- 3 p.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet (national) and RIS Info Sports (live)
Daily Highlights
- 1:30 p.m. ET on RDS
- 3:30 p.m. ET on TSN
Friday, March 19
Daily Highlights
- 1:30 p.m. ET on RDS
- 3:30 p.m. ET on TSN
Saturday, March 20
Sledge Hockey Gold Medal Game
- 3 p.m. ET on CTV and RIS Info Sports (live)
- 12 midnight ET on RDS
Daily Highlights
- 1:30 p.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet Ontario/West/Pacific and RDS
- 7 p.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet East
Sunday, March 21
Daily Highlights
- 4 p.m. ET on CTV
- 11 p.m. ET on RDS
Source : CTV and RDS