BBC Sport website redesign puts live coverage at heart

The popular BBC Sport website has relaunched today with a new design that is intended to put live coverage "at the heart" of the corporation's output ahead of the London Olympics and Euro 2012.

Marking what the BBC expects will be "an unforgettable year of sport", the corporation has introduced the first major update to the BBC Sport site in almost a decade.

Available now online, the redesign is intended to reflect "the changing needs of sports fans as more and more licence-fee payers go online to get up-to-the-minute updates on the biggest sporting events, as they happen".

Live coverage of sport is given much more prominence on the site, including text commentary of football games, audio and video coverage of sporting events and real-time updating tables and statistics.

The new focus on live action also comes after the BBC pledged to cover every event from the London Olympics this summer, meaning it will provide up to 24 live streams at any one moment.

Audiences will be able to access all the features previously available on the BBC Sport online service, including editorial content across a range of different sports that has helped the site attract more than 11.5m users every week.

The BBC claims that it has introduced a simpler and cleaner design that echoes the recent updates to other BBC online services, including the BBC News site redesign and the BBC homepage revamp.

Alongside the core functionality, the social networking functions for users to share content on the site have been improved, while new comment modules will be added in "the coming months".

The BBC has also developed technology to provide "rich, highly dynamic and interactive visualisations" of all the sports data, such as up to the minute league tables, athlete and player profiles, and form guides

"The BBC has a proud tradition of leading the way in sports broadcasting, providing audiences with access to events as they happen and journalism of the highest quality," said Barbara Slate, the director of BBC Sport.

"Audiences continue to turn to the BBC in the internet age, with BBC Sport firmly established as the UK's most popular sports site with 11 million visitors a week."

She added: "This redesign, the first in a series of innovations planned for 2012, builds on our broadcasting heritage by putting live coverage at the heart of our online output in what is poised to be an unforgettable year in British sport.

"Whether it's up-to-the-second commentary, live video and audio, access to the latest stats, or sports journalism audiences can trust, we're responding to the changing needs of our online audience - utilising the latest technology to provide licence-fee payers with a cutting-edge sports service of the highest quality."

The BBC Sport site redesign is also part of the corporation's efforts to reach licence fee payers on four screens - web, smartphone, tablets and connected TVs. It said that various new products and innovations for all digital platforms will be launched in the build up to the Olympics.

"The BBC's intention is to reach an increasingly connected audience, on whichever device they choose, in what will be an epic year for sport," said the corporation.

Some elements of the BBC Sport redesign have also today been made available today on the international version of the BBC site, BBC.com.

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