CTV decides to broadcast Paralympic closing ceremony live

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      After attracting criticism for its initial plan to not broadcast the closing ceremony of the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games live, CTV now says it will air live coverage of the event across Canada.

      The official Canadian broadcaster for the 2010 Games announced today (March 16) that its live broadcast of the closing ceremony will begin at 7 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday (March 21).

      Coverage will air in English on CTV and in French on RDS.

      “Canadians have demonstrated incredible passion and support for our Paralympians as they set new standards for performance and inspiration,” Susanne Boyce, president for creative, content, and channels at CTV, said in a press release. “This final celebration brings to a close the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, an unforgettable adventure that has captivated our entire nation.”

      Going into the Paralympics, CTV also hadn’t planned on carrying the opening ceremony live.

      But, after many viewers expressed outrage, the network ended up making a last-minute decision to broadcast the opening live in B.C.

      Last week, a representative of the International Paralympic Committee told the Straight his organization had hoped CTV would air the closing ceremony live.

      “As the international governing body for Paralympic sport, you always hope for the broadest, biggest possible coverage,” Alexis Schafer, the marketing and broadcasting senior manager for the IPC, said on March 12. “So, of course, we would hope that CTV would cover the closing ceremony."

      The closing ceremony will take place at Whistler Medals Plaza.

      A news item on the IPC’s Web site describes the closing ceremony as “an intimate open air event that will include breath-taking entertainment and the parade of Paralympians from around the world as they march into the amphitheatre”.

      CTV's closing-ceremony broadcast will be anchored by Brian Williams with three-time Paralympic gold medallist Marni Abbott-Peter.

      You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenhui.

      Comments

      7 Comments

      glen p robbins

      Mar 16, 2010 at 9:00pm

      Nice decision--thank you CTV

      canada fan

      Mar 16, 2010 at 10:55pm

      i would love to see way more sports for the paralympic games show on tv. it shows our canadian spirit, and we are all in the olympic spirit, so why not keep that flow going in the beautiful city??

      sceptic

      Mar 17, 2010 at 5:29pm

      wow, that's great - i'm amazed at the CTV!

      terry mchugh

      Mar 20, 2010 at 9:01pm

      I wish there was a lot more coverage of the paralympic events, but also want to thank CTV for listening to all the requests for live airing of the closing ceremony. Great decision!!

      megan

      Mar 21, 2010 at 4:00am

      There should never have been any question about broadcasting the opening and closing ceremonies. We had such amazing coverage of the Olympic games and then once the Paralympics start, the coverage seems to almost stop. What sort of message does that send? ALL of our Canadian atheletes deserve the same support and coverage.

      Linda R. Floyd

      Mar 21, 2010 at 12:01pm

      I e-mailed CTV, TSN, & Sportsnet West:

      I am very disappointed with the lack of full coverage of the 2010 Paralympic Games. I know that ParalympicSportTV exists but there are many, many people who do not have computer and/or internet access.

      I watched many hours of the Olympics and believe that you wasted a lot of time and money money with various hosts "chatting" to each other, etc. Forget this and give us more real sports coverage. You could have cut out all those filler times and shown all of the Paralympics, giving them the same coverage as the Olympics.

      I believe that many, many people - myself included - find the Paralympic Games and Athletes even MORE interesting and exciting than the Olympics/Olympians.

      Please, get up-to-date. Equal access means equal coverage on your networks.

      Thank-you.

      If everyone lets the media know we're just as interested in the Paralympians as the Olympians, maybe they'll give us "equal" coverage.

      Donald

      Mar 21, 2010 at 2:44pm

      Seems CTV does stand for Canadian Tv for EVERYONE afterall.....right on!