Olympics to get its own BBC radio station

{jcomments on}The BBC will launch a temporary radio station to cover the Olympics next year and live coverage will also air on BBC Three during the day – the first time the digital channel has broadcast during daytime hours.

The 2012 London Olympics will see wide-spread coverage across television – not just limited to the BBC – but the corporation has now revealed part of its plan as to how exactly it will cover all the events. The corporation has announced that it will launch a brand new radio station to cover the Olympics using the Radio 5 branding. The new radio station will be titled Five Live Olympics Extra and will broadcast coverage of the games in addition to Five Live and 5 Live Sports Extra.

For the first time BBC Three will broadcast during the daytime with coverage of the Olympics. Currently the digital channel only broadcasts in the evenings ‘starting up’ at 7pm. The BBC has revealed the cost of broadcasting BBC Three during the day for the Olympics will cost the corporation around £4.5 million – which will doubtless raise questions about the amount the BBC is spending on coverage at a time when it is making job redundancies and cutting back spending in other areas. The BBC has also confirmed that coverage of the Olympics will continue on BBC Three until 11pm when normal programming will resume.