Channel 4 racks up Paralympics loss as advertising disappoints
Channel 4 may be drawing in record audiences thanks to its status as official broadcaster of the Paralympics but this is failing to translate into cold, hard cash… according to The Telegraph.
The public broadcaster forked out a total of £30m to screen the Games, including £8m for the rights, £8m in production fees and a further £14m on Paralympic themed shows such as ‘Inside Incredible Athletes’.
Channel 4’s business model, devised before the downturn, had relied on recouping this expenditure through ad revenue but this hasn’t materialised as the broadcaster has been hit by the wider decline in ad spend.
The station was awarded the contract, at the expense of the BBC, after convincing London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games that they would be best placed to give the event broadest coverage.
This has seen the network devote nearly its entire schedule, bar Hollyoaks, to the sporting bonanza – equating to a huge 150 hours of coverage.