In-depth data, social features and personalization will be key to the BBC’s coverage of what the public broadcaster is describing as the “first truly digital games”.
The BBC says it will give audiences more choice than ever before by covering every Olympic event, sport and venue live, on-demand and interactive online, with up to 24 live HD streams and 2,500 hours of coverage.
Coverage will be made across four screens; PC, mobile, tablet and connected TVs (including smart TVs, games consoles and BBC Red Button). There will also be coverage in 3D and tests in the Super Hi Vision format.
The BBC Sport website at www.bbc.co.uk/sport will offer pages for every athlete, sport, venue and country, enabling detailed access to real-time updated Olympics data, statistics and news. Users will be able to follow and favourite their chosen athletes, sports and countries and receive live updates.
The 24 streams, which will be available cross platform, compares to the six additional streams that were offered in Beijing.
Linear coverage of the Olympics will be found on BBC One and an extended BBC Three.
The BBC Sport website will offer live HD video coverage to the desktop, enable audience to switch between the 24 simultaneous live streams.
Coverage can be rewound to the start of the action, should the viewer miss the beginning, and chapter markers will provide access to key moments.
A mobile browser site has been developed to mirror the main site while fitting into the mobile screen.
Apple and Android users will also have access to up to 24 live streams and short video highlight clips of the day’s best action. A free app for Apple and Android smartphones will also be able to read content offline.
As previously reported in Broadband TV News the BBC will make all 24 HD quality streams from the Olympic Games available to cable and satellite platforms for the duration of the games.
The BBC’s Red Button service for the Olympics on Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat will offer audiences access to up to 24 live streams and 2,500 hours of programming and an at-a-glance overview of the highest profile events available to watch at any one time. In addition, audiences can access a full A-Z listing, making finding the sport they want as easy as choosing a channel on TV.
For audiences on DTT (Freeview and BT Vision), there will be an additional 24-hour channel of extra BBC Olympics content available via the BBC Red Button. Between 1900-0530, there will also be a second channel showing BBC Olympics content.
The BBC Sport app for connected TVs will give audiences access to the BBC’s interactive coverage during the Games. Using a new interface that the BBC claims will “redefine the experience of using an app on TV”.
Virgin Media TiVo users will be able to access this content via the BBC Red Button. Audiences with Sony Smart TVs (2011 and 2012 models) and Sony’s PlayStation 3 console users will have access to the same content via the app menu on their devices.
Support for other connected TV devices will be announced shortly.
