Keeping up with the Games

The Greeks didn't have a word for it 2,700 years ago when the first Olympic Games were held. There was no need for one - interactive television didn't exist. Now, as the 16-day festival of international sport gets under way in Athens in the country of its birth, there are more ways of watching the games than you could throw a discus at.

The 250 hours of coverage on BBC1 and BBC2 aren't the only way of keeping up with the athletes. More than 1,000 hours will be available in the interactive Summer Olympics TV service, offering a complementary schedule.

Viewers with digital TV - that's more than half the people in the country - will be able to access four additional streams of coverage of the 37 events. Broadband users will be able to watch live coverage direct to their desktop at home. There will also be an Olympics update service to WAP-enabled mobile telephones, and a highlights service for mobiles capable of receiving it.

"In layman's terms, it's the first summer Olympics that's been interactive," says BBC Sport senior producer Patrick Dalzell. "It's a huge jump in terms of viewing on demand. It's about access and choice, empowering the viewer at home - what they watch and when they watch it.

"The Olympics are on a par with Wimbledon where you get that real emphasis on choice, and the viewer is in charge of what they watch."

The BBC has been offering interactive services since 2000. With more and more people taking up the new technology, coverage is becoming more widely available. Digital, satellite and cable viewers will be able to choose from four extra events in addition to BBC1 and BBC2. Freeview users can pick from two additional events.

So far, the Wimbledon tennis championships have been the biggest hitters in interactive TV. This year's coverage was watched by four million over Wimbledon fortnight. Euro 2004 attracted three million and the golf Open one million.

"It means when you switch on, you'll have a choice of watching half a dozen Olympic events. Then we'll go into replays of the day's events," explains Dalzell.

"The big innovation is we're publishing a schedule you can bring up on screen, so you'll know exactly what's going to be on. That was one of the big things that came from BBC marketing sessions with viewers - how do you know what's on? The schedule will be available on all platforms, giving people a personal list of what's on."

Before the arrival of digital television, thousands of hours of television coverage was simply lost to the viewer as overlapping events in different venues ruled out showing it all.

The BBC is also aware that many people have the wrong idea about the cost of the BBC's interactive TV. "It's free to air," Dalzell points out. "There's the perception that pressing the red button costs you money and what you get is not very good. We're making sure there's real value, otherwise viewers won't come back.

"The second thing is that delivery of this content is miniscule compared to what the Olympics cost the BBC."

The coverage already exists, it's just being channelled to a different place. "It's finishing the last mile. We're not presenting anything extra than we do already but are offering choice over the produced pieces," he says.

Only two people will be going to Athens to manage the interactive side as most of the work is done back in London.

Interactive coverage of the Commonwealth Games two years ago was seen by seven million people over the duration. "I'm hoping the Olympics will beat that and be the best we've ever done," says Dalzell, who will spend the games back in the BBC Sport department in the capital.

The BBC will be showing off the advances made in this area at its Athens broadcasting base. There will be a BBC Interactive Control Room, from which producers can select up to five of the available sources to route to London BBC Television Centre.

The latest research estimates show that, in the North-East region, only 38 per cent of viewers rely on analogue terrestrial TV with 62 per cent having access to multi-channel TV - 37 per cent through digital, 15 per cent through Freeview and nine per cent via digital cable. Digital figures are higher in this region that most parts of the UK.

Other countries are slower to take up interactive TV as they don't have the infrastructure to support it.

Broadband coverage, offering both live footage and highlights, will only be available to residential subscribers in the UK, which is bad news for those hoping to tune in through the office system.

All this is in addition to BBC Sport's established website (bbc.co.uk/sport) with its coverage that includes reports, news, medal tables and timetables of events.

"Our broadband service complements our interactive TV offering, allowing us to offer a variety of platforms for licence fee payers to access the world's greatest sporting event," says Andrew Thompson, Head of Development, New Media and Sports News at BBC Sport.

* Coverage of the Olympic Games begins with the opening ceremony on Friday at 6.35pm on BBC1 and 6.45pm on British Eurosport, and on Radio 5 Live from 7pm.