Paralympic Games set to break broadcasting records

The Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games had a peak TV audience of 22m in host country France, according to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

John Lisko, Managing Director of IPC Global Media Rights, said: “We fully expect Paris 2024 will shatter every Paralympic Games broadcasting record there is: record number of rights holders, more hours of live coverage than ever before, and all 22 sports live for the first time in history.”

In the host country of the Games, France Télévisions is providing 24 hours a day coverage of Paris 2024, with a mixture of 300 hours of live and on-demand coverage.

UK broadcaster Channel 4 is airing 1,300 hours of live sport airing across several platforms.

IPC agency partner Infront is providing several thousand hours of coverage in a record 46 European countries, including markets where the Games weren’t previously available: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Lithuania and Malta.

Free-to-air channels such as ARD/ZDF in Germany, RAI in Italy, NOS in the Netherlands, NRK in Norway and SRG in Switzerland are providing coverage across their linear and digital channels.

In the US, NBCU’s Peacock hub includes more than 1,500 hours of Paralympic streaming coverage, plus 140 hours of linear coverage across NBC, USA Network and CNBC.

In Australia, hosts of the Brisbane 2032 Games, the Nine Network debuts as the Paralympic host broadcaster.

In Canada, CBC/Radio-Canada is broadcast more than 140 original hours of coverage, with an additional 2,000 hours of live-streaming coverage available across its multiple platforms. 

In Japan, NHK, Japan’s Multi-Games MRH Broadcaster is providing coverage with more than 80 hours per week. NHK broadcasting partnerships with JBA, JCOM and Green Channel extend the coverage in Japan.