Canadian Paralympic Committee – CBC will carry more hours of coverage for Rio 2016 than ever before for a Paralympic Games online at cbcsports.ca/paralympics and via the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices and across CBC, Sportsnet ONE and AMI-tv

TORONTO, Aug. 29, 2016 – With the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games set to begin in just over a week, the Canadian Paralympic Broadcast Consortium, led by the Canadian Paralympic Committee, is pleased to announce that CBC/Radio-Canada will be Canada’s home for daily coverage from the Opening Ceremony on Sept. 7 through to the Closing Ceremony on Sept. 18.

CBC’s digital platforms will provide daily live coverage with up to 11 simultaneous live streaming feeds for viewers to choose from across cbcsports.ca/paralympics and via the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices. Television coverage will be available daily via CBC, Sportsnet ONE and AMI-tv.

In total, CBC/Radio-Canada and its partners will provide more than 700 hours of coverage of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games – more than has ever been made available before in Canada for a Paralympic Games. Additional members of the Consortium with plans to feature content include Yahoo Sports Canada, SendtoNews, Twitter and Facebook Live.

“CBC/Radio-Canada is proud to be an important partner in this consortium and providing Canadians audiences more access to Canada’s Paralympic athletes and their sports than ever before,” said Greg Stremlaw, executive director, CBC Sports, and general manager and chef de mission for CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of Rio 2016. “As Canada’s Paralympic Network, CBC/Radio-Canada is committed to showcasing the stories and tremendous talent of these athletes from Canada and around the world across multiple platforms, ensuring Canadians will not have to miss a minute of the action from Rio.”

“We are looking forward to working with CBC/Radio-Canada and all our Consortium partners to provide Canadians unprecedented coverage, both online and broadcast, of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games,” said Martin Richard, Executive Director of Communications and Marketing for the Canadian Paralympic Committee, “We are very excited about how CBC/Radio-Canada will showcase our athletes and sports to Canadians through competition coverage, highlight moments and captivating storytelling. Canadians are in for 12 thrilling days of compelling viewing over the span of these Games and will see innovative ways to watch the Games via Team Canada’s social media platforms.”

In addition to daily coverage on CBC-TV and live streaming coverage at cbcsports.ca/paralympics and on the CBC Sports app, Sportsnet ONE and AMI-tv will also provide access to CBC’s coverage. Sportsnet ONE will offer daily encore presentations of CBC’s Paralympic Games Wrap-Up in the morning following each broadcast,while AMI-tv will provide live described video for audience members who are blind or partially sighted, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies as well as weekend Afternoon and Primetime broadcasts.

CBC’s Scott Russell will host the network’s English Paralympic Games coverage and will be joined from Rio by reporter and three-time Paralympian Stephanie Dixon and veteran broadcaster and Paralympian Rob Snoek. In addition, two-time Paralympic medallist Greg Westlake will join Russell as co-host for CBC’s coverage of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Coverage on CBC will include three separate programming blocks hosted by Russell, including Paralympic Games Afternoon, Paralympic Games Primetime and the Paralympic Games Wrap-Up. The nightly Wrap-Up block will air every night from September 8 to 17, while the Afternoon and Primetime blocks will air every weekend throughout Rio 2016 (see below for the full TV broadcast schedule).

CBC’s Rio 2016 Paralympic Games TV broadcast schedule:

Wednesday, Sept. 7	Opening Ceremony*	6:30 p.m. ET (Live in ON and east, 6:30 p.m. local to the west)
Thursday, Sept. 8	Paralympic Games Wrap-Up**	12 a.m. (Local, Thursday night)
Friday, Sept. 9	Paralympic Games Wrap-Up**	1 a.m. (Local, Friday night)
Saturday, Sept. 10	Paralympic Games Afternoon*	12 p.m. ET (9 a.m. PT)
	Paralympic Games Primetime*	7 p.m. ET (Live in Ontario and east, 7:30 p.m. local to the west)
	Paralympic Games Wrap-Up*	10 p.m. (Live in Ontario and east, 10 p.m. local to the west)
Sunday, Sept. 11	Paralympic Games Afternoon*	1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT)
	Paralympic Games Primetime*	6 p.m. (Local)
	Paralympic Games Wrap-Up**	12 a.m. (Local, Sunday night)
Monday, Sept. 12	Paralympic Games Wrap-Up**	12 a.m. (Local, Monday night)
Tuesday, Sept. 13	Paralympic Games Wrap-Up**	12 a.m. (Local, Tuesday night)
Wednesday, Sept. 14	Paralympic Games Wrap-Up**	12 a.m. (Local, Wednesday night)
Thursday, Sept. 15	Paralympic Games Wrap-Up**	12 a.m. (Local, Thursday night)
Friday, Sept. 16	Paralympic Games Wrap-Up**	12 a.m. (Local, Friday night)
Saturday, Sept. 17	Paralympic Games Afternoon*	3 p.m. ET (12 p.m. PT)
	Paralympic Games Primetime*	8 p.m. ET (Live in Ontario and east, 8 p.m. local to the west)
	Paralympic Games Wrap-Up**	12 a.m. (Local, Saturday night)
Sunday, Sept. 18	Paralympic Games Afternoon*	2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT)
	Closing Ceremony*	6 p.m. ET (Live in Ontario and east, 6 p.m. local to the west)

*Also available with described video on AMI-tv

**Also available on Sportsnet ONE at 7 a.m. the following day

For French-language audiences, official broadcaster Radio-Canada and AMI télé, through the Paralympic Broadcast Consortium, are also planning unprecedented coverage, featuring more than 40 hours of television coverage and 650 hours of online streaming.

Programming scheduled by ICI Radio-Canada Télé includes: the Opening Ceremony, hosted by Marie-José Turcotte with Philippe Gagnon, presented on ICI Radio-Canada Télé on Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 11 p.m. ET. A special Paralympics presentation will be broadcast on Friday, Sept. 9 at 9 p.m. ET. The Closing Ceremony will also be hosted by Marie-José Turcotte with Philippe Gagnon on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 12 a.m. ET.

On Saturdays and Sundays, Marie-José Turcotte will host the action live from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET. And throughout the Games, Jean St-Onge will report from Rio every evening from Sept. 8 to 17, airing Monday to Friday at 11 p.m. ET and Saturday at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Radio-Canada’s Rio 2016 Paralympic Games broadcast schedule (all times ET):

Wednesday, Sept. 7	Opening Ceremony	11 p.m. ET
Thursday, Sept. 8	Jean St-Onge reporting	11 p.m. ET
Friday, Sept. 9	Opening Ceremony highlights	9 p.m. ET
	Jean St-Onge reporting	11 p.m. ET
Saturday, Sept. 10	Live coverage hosted by Marie-Josée Turcotte	2-5 p.m. ET
Sunday, Sept. 11	Live coverage hosted by Marie-Josée Turcotte	2-5 p.m. ET
	Jean St-Onge reporting	10:30 p.m. ET
Monday, Sept. 12	Jean St-Onge reporting	11 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Sept. 13	Jean St-Onge reporting	11 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Sept. 14	Jean St-Onge reporting	11 p.m. ET
Thursday, Sept. 15	Jean St-Onge reporting	11 p.m. ET
Friday, Sept. 16	Jean St-Onge reporting	11 p.m. ET
Saturday, Sept. 17	Live coverage hosted by Marie-Josée Turcotte	2-5 p.m. ET
	Jean St-Onge reporting live	10:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, Sept. 18	Live coverage hosted by Marie-Josée Turcotte	2-5 p.m. ET
Sunday, Sept. 18	Closing Ceremony	12 a.m. ET

Follow the French-language action online at ICI.Radio-Canada.ca/paralympiques and on social media at @RC_Sports and facebook.com/radiocanada.sports.

The Canadian Paralympic Committee has partnered with Facebook Canada to provide Canadian fans a platform for them to interact while they tune into Live Team Canada moments via Team Canada Facebook @cdnparalympics. Over 20 million Canadians use Facebook on a monthly basis.

Team Canada’s @CDNparalympic and @CDNparalympique will feature Live clips on its Twitter feed so users on the go can watch some of Canada’s top moments unfold.

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About the Canadian Paralympic Committee: Paralympic.ca

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For further information, please contact:

Simon Bassett, publicist, CBC

416-205-8533 (office) 416-988-1590 (mobile)

Email: simon.bassett@cbc.ca

Marc Pichette

Directeur des Relations publiques, Promotion et Partenariats

Radio-Canada

514 597-4140

Email: marc.pichette@radio-canada.ca

Alison Korn

Senior Manager, Media Relations and Communications

Canadian Paralympic Committee

Tel: 613-569-4333 ext. 243 / Cell: 613-298-4927

RIO NUMBER AS OF SEPT. 1, 2016:  +55 (21) 99033-0131

Email: akorn@paralympic.ca