NHK announces plans for Rio 2016 Paralympic broadcasts

Japanese broadcaster NHK has announced that it will broadcast around 120 hours of action from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, almost three times more than London 2012.

On Thursday (7 July) at a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, NHK announced its plans for covering the Games which will take place between 7-18 September. It will include live daily coverage for the first time on general TV.

General TV

•Due to the 12 hour time difference between Japan and Rio, General TV will provide live coverage from the early hours into the morning

•A daily Paralympic Time round-up of each day’s event will be broadcast after 22:00 and will also include live coverage on ongoing events

•Recorded events will be broadcast after 13:00 for viewers who missed the morning’s live coverage.

Educational TV

•For the first time, NHK’s Educational TV channel will present a special programme for people with a visual or hearing impairment in the 20:00 slot for everyone to enjoy the action to the full. The programme will provide verbal commentary for people with a vision impairment, whilst sign language in the studio and subtitles will be provided for those with a hearing impairment.

BS1

•Mainly in the evening hours, there will be a recorded broadcast of one high-profile event from sports such as wheelchair basketball

•More than 120 hours of TV broadcasts are planned. For London 2012, NHK showed 45 hours.

Radio 1

•The Opening Ceremony, Closing Ceremony and high-profile events such as wheelchair tennis will be broadcast for the first time.

Online

•Live streaming, recorded video catch-up and other services will be provided for the first time for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Further information about NHK’s Rio 2016 Paralympic Games coverage can be found here.