A senior BBC executive has defended its vastly reduced coverage of the Olympics but admitted that viewers would find it “frustrating”.
Many British fans have complained that they are missing key moments of the Tokyo Games.
Ron Chakraborty, lead executive of major events at BBC Sport, said a new TV rights deal had forced it to go from broadcasting 24 live streams at once across its channels and online during the Rio 2016 Games to only two.
Discovery, the American broadcaster, secured most of the rights in a £920 million pan-European deal with the International Olympic Committee that runs until after Paris 2024. Most coverage is now on Discovery’s Eurosport, a subscription channel.
The reduced BBC live coverage — 350 hours instead of 3,000
