NEW DELHI: All India Radio (AIR) will broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies of the London Olympics 2102 live on its national channel as well as on AIR FM Gold (106.4 MHz) on 27 July and 13 August respectively.
In addition, the matches relating to hockey where India has qualified and football will also be broadcast live along with the semi-finals and finals.
AIR sources told Radioandmusic.com the public broadcaster has drawn up extensive plans to give live telecast of the women’s hockey final and the men’s football final.
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Though these will be carried on the national channel and FM Gold, all state capital Kendras can also relay the beam.
FM Gold will carry highlights of the previous day’s events at 7.05 am every morning. These will be picked up and relayed by all the capital Kendras and also presented later in regional language versions.
AIR will also carry regular updates and breaking news during normal programme whenever any major story breaks.
There will be elaborate news coverage with inputs and feeds from London, the sources said.
It was pointed out that AIR had in fact commenced programmes on the Olympics from 10 April, beaming two programme every month till June and one in July. This was also relayed by the Kendras in state capitals and in regional versions. This also included interviews with those Indians who have earlier won medals at the Olympics.
In fact, AIR has prepared a total database of Indian performance at the Olympics since it began taking part and this would be used extensively in its coverage.
The sources however said that it was awaiting clearance of the budget which would then decide the size of its team to London and the number of events it would be able to cover.
Meanwhile, the sources confirmed that AIR would be giving live commentary of the India-Sri Lanka series commencing on 24 July under the Prasar Bharati (Mandatory Sharing of Sports Signals) Act. Doordarshan had earlier said it would not be able to cover the series.
