Channel 4 wins prestigious award for Paralympic coverage

“The broadcaster’s coverage of Rio 2016 was once again outstanding and we look forward to working with them to continue developing the Paralympic Movement in the years to come.”

British broadcaster Channel 4 won a prestigious domestic award in recognition of its coverage of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games on Wednesday (1 February) evening.

Sunset+Vine’s Rio 2016 coverage for Channel 4 picked up the Sports Broadcast award at the Broadcast Awards, beating off the BBC’s coverage of the Olympics and ITV’s coverage of the Rugby World Cup.

Sir Philip Craven, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President, said: “Congratulations to everyone at Channel 4 and Sunset+Vine for winning this thoroughly deserved accolade. Globally Channel 4 lead the way and set the bar for all other broadcasters in how to cover a Paralympic Games.

“The broadcaster’s coverage of Rio 2016 was once again outstanding and we look forward to working with them to continue developing the Paralympic Movement in the years to come.”

Following the London 2012 Paralympics was a tough challenge, but not only did the Paralympics GB athletes in Rio surpass their previous medal haul, Channel 4’s coverage of the event also hit new heights.

The broadcaster had some ambitious diversity targets for its Sunset+Vine-led coverage of the Rio Games.

Almost two thirds of the on-screen talent had an impairment and Channel 4’s commitment to diversity extended to off-screen talent too: 15 per cent of the Sunset+Vine production team had an impairment, many of them new to the industry and graduates of Channel 4’s Rio Production Trainee Scheme.

The judges said this was part of an approach that was “fresh and innovative and embraced all the values of the sport and engaged all audiences.”

While the main events were covered by host broadcaster Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), Sunset+Vine’s cameras provided supplementary coverage for a UK audience, with Outside Broadcast (OB) units deployed for the athletics and swimming events and two roving OB teams moving between venues.

Track cycling and wheelchair basketball had dedicated commentary positions and live mixed-zone set-ups to provide live reports and interviews the moment the competitors finished their event.

The result was the most ambitious live broadcast in C4’s history. One judge summed it up as “sporting and production excellence in tandem – bold, relevant and inspirational.”

On Wednesday the IPC also announced that it had appointed Sunset+Vine as host broadcasters for the London 2017 World Para Athletics Championships.