Sochi winter Paralympics leads to week of live events on C4

6 March 2014

• Channel 4 and More4 extends hours of Sochi Paralympic Winter Games coverage from 50 to 70 hours
• Daily 30-minute Paralympics highlight programme – Winter Paralympic Show
• Live coverage of the Cheltenham Festival and the world famous dog show Crufts – both presented by Clare Balding

Channel 4 will broadcast the UK’s first ever live television coverage of a Paralympic Winter Games with coverage of Sochi 2014 which begins on Friday 7th March with the Opening Ceremony live on Channel 4.  The Games join the Cheltenham Festival, featuring the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and the world famous Crufts, as part of an unprecedented week of live event coverage on Channel 4 and More4.

With an extended half-hour nightly highlights programme added to the schedule in addition to daily live action – Channel 4 and More4 have now increased their coverage of the Paralympic Winter Games from 50 to 70 hours over the ten days of competition.  It is the greatest ever commitment to the Paralympic Winter Games from a UK broadcaster – and compares to a one-hour highlights programme broadcast for the Vancouver Paralympic Games in 2010. There will also be two further high definition channels of live streaming available digitally, and special editions of The Last Leg during the Games.

Daily coverage will begin from either 5:30am,  5.45am, 6.00am or 11.30am depending on the programme of events and will include live coverage from all five of the winter sports – Alpine Skiing - including snowboard cross -  Ice Sledge Hockey, Wheelchair Curling, Biathlon and Cross-country Skiing. Additionally, each night there will be a half hour highlights programming at 6:30pm weekends and 7:30pm weekdays.  

In the lead up to the 2012 Games, Channel 4 identified and trained new presenters and reporters with disabilities and four of that team will be returning to present the Sochi 2014 coverage. Ade Adepitan and Arthur Williams together with Jonathan Edwards and Kelly Cates will anchor coverage from Channel 4’s studio, and Rachael Latham and Daraine Mulvihill join Iwan Thomas on the ground in Sochi. 

Jon Snow will host live coverage of the opening ceremony with commentary provided by fellow Channel 4 News presenter, Krishnan Guru-Murthy.

Arthur and Kelly will present the Paralympic breakfast coverage before handing over to Ade and Jonathan who will anchor coverage of events in the mid-morning. The presenting team will be joined by a range of guests over the Games, including 2012 Paralympic champions Richard Whitehead and Nathan Stephens, giving their expert opinion on the events and helping give detailed explanations of each of the sports and the equipment used.  The ground-breaking and acclaimed LEXI decoder – which made its debut at the London 2012 Paralympics – will also return to help guide viewers through the different classifications involved in each of the sports.

Exclusive and extended hours of Crufts coverage will run on More4 and Channel 4 from 6 – 9 March. Clare Balding will lead coverage of the world's biggest dog show live from the NEC in Birmingham.

Channel 4’s exclusive terrestrial coverage of the iconic Cheltenham Festival runs from March 11 – 14th and incorporates some 23 hours of live championship action featuring the world’s best jump jockeys and horses. 

Nick Luck will present The Morning Line live from 8am with former top jump jockey Mick Fitzgerald track-side to give his expert evaluation of that day’s runners and Sam Thomas reporting from the stables.  The breakfast show will be packed with the latest racing news and tips for the day ahead.

Clare Balding and Nick Luck will present Channel 4’s high definition Festival coverage which begins at 12:35 – 4:30pm with a daily delivery of five championship races.  Reporters Alice Plunkett, Rishi Persad and Mick Fitzgerald will compliment a top punditry team that includes Jim McGrath, Graham Cunningham and the formidable Ted Walsh.  Brian Gleeson will also be on hand to provide the latest news on the strong Irish contenders alongside Tanya Stevenson with Simon Holt calling home the winners for his fourteenth consecutive year. 

Ed Havard, Head of Special Programmes and Events, said: “This is a huge week of events on 4. The award-winning team behind the London 2012 Paralympics are back with more coverage of the Paralympic Winter Games than ever before and Clare Balding will be leading the coverage from the Cheltenham Festival and Crufts. We’re excited about showcasing some of the greatest sporting achievements in the world and bringing these international events to our audiences across the week. Channel 4's groundbreaking coverage of the 2012 Paralympics helped transform attitudes not just of Paralympic sport but of disability and we are committed to building on that legacy in Sochi.”