Channel 4 paid more than £5 million to secure a deal announced last week that means the BBC will not broadcast the Paralympics for the first time since 1976, despite having invested millions of pounds in covering and promoting disability sport.

Several media experts have accused the BBC of not taking Channel 4's bid seriously enough.

It was a claim rejected by Mosey, writing on his regular blog that appears on the BBC website.

He wrote: "We never took the outcome for granted.

"It was blindingly obvious from the start of this process that the Paralympics would be very attractive to Channel 4 as well as potentially to Sky and pay broadcasters."

Channel 4 plans to rebrand itself as the "Paralympic Channel" in the build-up to London 2012 and make several programmes previewing the event, starting later this year.

It will also have dedicated coverage of the Paralympic Torch Relay and will be supported by the biggest marketing campaign in the broadcaster's history, climaxing in more than 150 hours of coverage during the Games themselves.

Some experts have speculated that London 2012 chose Channel 4 because they would ensure that the Paralympics would be the main focus of their campaign, where if had they remained with the BBC then they would have been secondary to the Olympics.

Predictably, it is a claim that Mosey denied.

He said: "I don't think we remotely saw the Paralympics as 'fringe', but there's no doubt we've got a 1000 per cent full-on job in covering the Olympics and the multitude of other events in 2012.

"There are two views: one that the Paralympics are best served by being incorporated fully within that story, or the other that a single focus on the Paralympics would be better.

"We took the first view - but the second is perfectly legitimate too."

Mosey, though, is relieved in one aspect and that is London 2012 chose to keep the Paralympics on free-to-air television and did not award them to a satellite pay-channel like Sky.

He said: "Naturally, we're disappointed that we won't be able to continue with our tradition of covering disability sport in the Paralympics - and we remain enormously proud of what we've achieved over the years.

"But we congratulate Channel 4, and I'm pleased that the argument about free-to-air coverage has been won: the Paralympics won't be behind a pay barrier, and they'll be available to anyone who wants to watch them within the UK.

"We unambiguously want the Paralympics to be as much of a success as the rest of the year [2012], and and we wish Channel 4 all the best with their coverage."


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January 2010: ParalympicsGB fear for coverage post-London 2012 after Channel 4 deal
January 2010: BBC snubbed as Channel 4 awarded London 2012 Paralympic broadcast rights
December 2009: Exclusive - Payne does not believe London 2012 will sell Paralympic TV rights to Sky