CBC – Coverage begins Sept. 7 at 6:30 p.m. ET (3:30 p.m. PT) online at cbcsports.ca/paralympics and the via the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices. CBC-TV will carry the Opening Ceremony with coverage available with described video on AMI-tv

Opening Ceremony marks the beginning of CBC’s unprecedented Paralympic Games coverage – the most extensive in Canadian history

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September 6, 2016 – The second-largest sporting event in the world this year officially gets underway tomorrow night with the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony. Live television coverage will be available on CBC on Wednesday, September 7 starting at 6:30 p.m. ET in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada and at 6:30 p.m. local time in all areas west of Ontario. In addition, AMI-tv will offer coverage with described video. Live online coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m. ET (3:30 p.m. PT) at cbcsports.ca/paralympics and on the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices. The Paralympic Games will feature approximately 4350 athletes from more than 170 countries competing in 528 events across 23 sports.

CBC Sports’ Scott Russell will host the Opening Ceremony coverage alongside two-time Paralympic Games medallist Greg Westlake, captain of Canada’s sledge hockey team. The Ceremony promises to highlight the strength of Brazil and its people, their creativity and perseverance in overcoming challenges. The Ceremony will also include the parade of nations when athletes from all participating countries make their way into Rio’s iconic Maracanã Stadium. Team Canada will be represented by 162 athletes competing in 19 sports.

As the world’s attention turns to Rio once again, CBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony marks the beginning of the network’s unprecedented Paralympic Games coverage. CBC’s digital platforms will provide daily live coverage throughout the Paralympic Games with up to 11 simultaneous competition feeds for viewers to choose from at cbcsports.ca/paralympics and via the CBC Sports app. Television coverage will be available daily via CBC, Sportsnet ONE and AMI-tv. In all, CBC/Radio-Canada and its partners will provide more than 1000 hours of coverage of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games – more than has ever been made available before in Canada for a Paralympic Games.

Coverage on CBC will include three separate TV 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. Russell will host CBC’s coverage throughout the Games and will be joined from Rio by reporter and three-time Paralympian Stephanie Dixon and veteran broadcaster and Paralympian Rob Snoek.

CBC Radio One will provide an hourly Paralympic Games Report at 25 minutes past each hour within every local weekday afternoon show across the country as well as in World at Six from September 8–18. Paralympic Games Report will also air on Saturdays and Sundays within The World This Weekend. CBC Sports’ Signa Butler will host Paralympic Games Report with Scott Regehr providing additional content from Rio de Janeiro.

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For further information, please contact:

Simon Bassett, publicist, CBC

simon.bassett@cbc.ca

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