I’m not sure I completely buy it. As good as Channel 4 is when it comes to Paralympics coverage, I don’t think they’d be very interested if they were losing money on it. It would still need to make commercial sense for them to make such a commitment. Ultimately if you’re spending money to be the main broadcaster, you might as well utilise the investment by showing as much as you can and it’s something advertisers actively want to be associated with.
Well if you cast your mind back to late 2004 when it was announced that Channel 4's tenure as the main broadcaster for England's home cricket test matches would end the following year and from 2006 everything would be on Sky. Although the coverage was ground-breaking (and subsequently award-winning), C4 made significant losses on the coverage and ironically, the only year which they didn't make a loss was their swansong of the memorable 2005 Ashes series.