It is a major boost for the Paralympic Movement after it was previously revealed that the Games will receive its highest level of exposure in the United Kingdom through Channel 4 and in China through CCTV, the country's largest national broadcasting network.

Further deals with other key broadcasters across the globe have seen the previous record in terms of revenue generated from the sales of Paralympics broadcasting rights completely smashed.

They will provide the Paralympic Games, and the wider sport, with the strongest Games broadcast coverage ever received, ensuring the widest possible global audience can enjoy the action.

It also means that all the minimum broadcasting commitments for the London 2012 Paralympics have been matched or exceeded in all cases, with hundreds of hours of Paralympic sport set to be broadcast.

Host broadcaster services are being supplied by OBS, providing viewers with live action in glorious high definition.

All the Rights Holding Broadcasters announced today boast a strong record in their previous coverage of the Paralympic Games, with one of the key deals struck being with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

The EBU is the world's largest association of national broadcasters, serving 85 national media organisations in 56 countries across Europe and beyond while member broadcasters reach an audience of 650 million viewers weekly.


Major agreements have also been inked with NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, who is the country's only public broadcaster; Globo TV and Sportv, Globo's cable sports channel, in Brazil; ABC, Australia's primary public broadcaster and winner of the International Paralympic Committee's (IPC) Broadcast Media Award for its coverage of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games; Sky Italia, the Italian digital subscription channel; the Korean Broadcasting Service (KBS), the public service broadcaster of Korea; and Thailand's TV Pool.

Further Rights Holding Broadcasters will also be announced in the coming months.

IPC President Sir Philip Craven (pictured above) welcomed the news: "On the back of record-breaking ticket sales, it is fantastic news that these deals will ensure more people than ever before see the Paralympic Games.

"This is testament to the performances of the athletes who will come to London and put on something pretty special.

"The Paralympics is sport like never before and whether you watch it as a spectator or as a TV viewer you cannot help but be impressed and excited at the Paralympic spirit and the record-breaking performances of the athletes."

"As the world's second biggest multi-sports event, all eyes will be focused on the Paralympic Games in London in 2012," said London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe.

"Beyond how the commercial value of this package has raised the bar financially for the Paralympic Movement, the fantastic broadcast coverage we have agreed will help us take advantage of this opportunity to inspire disabled people of all ages to take up sport and be a catalyst for continued change in public attitudes towards disability."

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