Alex Gilady, an International Olympic Committee member and a member of the IOC Radio-TV Commission, who spent 30 years with American broadcaster NBC, told the audience as recently as Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000, NBC's entire broadcast for the Olympic Games stretched to just 186 hours.

In Beijing there were 5,000 hours of coverage and in London in 2012 the BBC is expected to broadcast a staggering 6,000 hours.

And while changes in technology and the way we receive and view information have changed dramatically since 2000, the BBC still has to find a way to reach audiences who may want different experiences.

"Your hard core sports fans might be shouting at the television," said Gallop, but "other fans might want a more passive experience".

"It's up to us to show sporting experiences which, up until now, have not been possible".

The use of the internet and the growth of social networking sites, such as Twitter, have, according to the panel, radically altered the modern media landscape but not all the predictions of a decade ago came true.

"There was a lot of talk about how the internet would destroy television," said Gallop, "but that hasn't happened."

In fact, according to Gallop, Saturday night blockbusters like X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing have been juggernauts in the way they have crashed through the conventional media landscape.

"Ten years ago people were saying television is dying, particularly live events," he said.

"But what we have seen in the last 10 years in these enormous shows is that they bring people together - they are a phenomenon when it comes to Twitter.

"Sport has the power to do that as well."

While newspapers have suffered globally during the economic downturn, Steve Wilson, European Sports Editor at Associated Press, believes the public will always want to read good, honest, reliable print journalism.

"Audiences are going to want the content that tells the story and goes behind the pictures," he said.

Wilson cited the NFL game at Wembley Stadium on Sunday night which was played out in front of a capacity crowd as well as being broadcast on television.

"You need someone to tell the story and go beyond the obvious things you saw," he said.

"The live event will be central but analysis and comment is still going to have a place," he added.


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