#GEN2012: How audiences will take control of BBC Olympic coverage

This year audiences following coverage of the London Olympics - described as the first ever truly digital Olympics - will get "total control" for the first time.

This was the message from the BBC's general manager of news and knowledge Phil Fearnley, who was speaking at the Global Editors Network News World Summit in Paris today.

Fearnley was presenting the broadcaster's new live interactive video player which will give users more control and features to enable the personalisation of content.

The BBC outlined its planned digital offering for the Olympics, including up to 24 live streams available across four screens, earlier this month.

As the BBC said at the time, the platform will enable users to jump between the streams, rewind live streams, offer "chapter markers" and provide "relevant live data, statistics and information, while viewers are watching, in a seamless and unobtrusive way".

Outlining the control the audience will be given, Fearnley today said users will be have "control of what you watch, when you watch it, what device to watch it on".

The new platform the broadcaster has created has been "designed with one aim in mind, that the audience will never miss a moment of the games", Fearnley added.

Looking back to Beijing in 2008 he said audience activities such as watching live video on mobile in the UK was "not a pleasant experience".

In comparison the London games this year will be the "first truly digital Olympics".

"24 high definition live streams of content, 2500 hours of coverage, on PC, mobile, tablets, internet-connected television and the red button.

"At the heart of this is live video - experience an event as it happens."

He added that the BBC is aiming to bring live video "like never before" and has "reinvented the experience of watching big events live and online".

The platform will also enable the audience to dive into more information, provide content on individual athletes, and maintain give viewers complete control of what they want to watch and when, including the ability to favourite certain sports, such as swimming, and create a favourites pages of related news, medals information and scheduling details.

"It's not just about more choice for more events covered and devices. It's also about ease of use.

"We know everyone has got their own favourites so we've made navigation as simple as possible, with one click to choose a sport, one click to access the medal table, one click to see a schedule of what's coming up."

The platform also pulls in social media platforms to bring the information being shared by athletes and others on these platforms "to the heart of BBC Sport online".

He said the audience it has been tested with "absolutely love it", and that he "can't wait for the opening ceremony so people can get their hands on it for real."

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