Issued by Channel 4
Channel 4’s coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will be produced by the award-winning independent production company Whisper.
Whisper was awarded the contract after an extensive and competitive tender process, demonstrating innovative and creative plans to build upon Channel 4’s widely lauded coverage of the Paralympics which has attracted worldwide critical acclaim.
Channel 4 became the official UK Paralympic Broadcaster when it took over coverage of the Paralympics in 2012 with the London Games, which is regularly cited as a key moment in helping shift public perceptions around disability and disability sport
Pete Andrews, Head of Sport, Channel 4, said: “Channel 4’s ground-breaking coverage of the Paralympics has received worldwide recognition and we’re committed to further pushing the boundaries in terms of how we deliver Paralympic sport to our audiences.
“Whisper demonstrated that they were aligned with Channel 4’s aspirations for the Paralympics and we’re really looking forward to working with them to shape how our coverage of the Games continues to set the global standard.”
Channel 4’s investment in its powerful multi-award-winning marketing campaigns – Meet The Super Humans; We’re The Super Humans; Super. Human. – have also played a key role in shifting perceptions around disability. And the broadcaster has introduced an array of on-screen talent through its Paralympics coverage over the years including Adam Hills, Alex Brooker, Sophie Morgan, JJ Chalmers, Ed Jackson and Arthur Williams.
Mark Cole, Managing Director, Whisper said: “It’s really fantastic for the whole team to have the opportunity to produce the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Delivering the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics was truly a stand-out moment for us and, to have the chance to do it again, this time with less Covid restrictions and even more opportunity for creativity and ambition, is something very exciting.
“We always aim to appeal to a large, diverse audience and to entertain, while telling the athlete’s incredible stories and that of the Games. We remain committed to ensuring we have strong disabled representation on screen and behind the camera, which goes beyond the Paralympics production period.
“So many values of both The Paralympics and Channel 4 align with ours; it really is an honour to be delivering this again and a huge thank you to Channel 4 for their support.”
Whisper has established itself as one of the UK’s leading production companies and its credits include Formula One for Channel 4, The Women’s EURO 2022 for BBC, Today at The Test for BBC, Women’s Super League for BBC and the 2020 Toyoko Paralympics for Channel 4.
Alex Mahon, Chief Executive, Channel 4 added: “A decade ago, London 2012 was a pivotal moment when Channel 4 was able to share and celebrate the achievements of these elite athletes with audiences across the UK. The impact of our coverage has taken our audiences beyond the incredible achievements on track and field, and I am incredibly proud that Channel 4’s belief in and commitment to the Paralympics Games has helped to change hearts and minds of audiences. Not only have we helped to positively change public perceptions of disability, but as a broadcaster, create real opportunities for disabled people to forge their broadcast careers on and off screen.”
When Channel 4 was awarded the UK broadcast rights to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games IPC President Andrew Parsons pointed to the UK public service broadcaster as “having created the blueprint for how a commercial broadcaster can raise the profile of Paralympic sport and deliver seismic shifts in attitudes and perceptions of disabled people”.
Channel 4’s rights to broadcast the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games includes multi-platform broadcast rights within the UK and will see the broadcaster build on its acclaimed coverage which has regularly broken UK viewing records for Paralympic sport.
