Setting the record straight on BBC's Olympic locations

One of the reasons for having this blog is accountability: explaining what we're doing in our 2012 planning and opening up a debate about the issues.

What I also intend to use it for is setting the record straight when newspapers come up with daft items, so here's the first in what I expect to be an occasional series.

A headline today: "BBC to splash �1million on Olympic Penthouse". The story says "bosses" are looking to buy two �350,000 top-floor flats in an "exclusive" block, and then there's the favourite device - the anonymous source.

The source tells the paper: "There will be no expense spared when it comes to coverage and bosses are prepared to spend a fortune."

So let me tell you what we told the journalist. First, we are not buying any flats. Second, the figure of �1m for purchasing property around the Olympic Park is ludicrous.

The paper went ahead with publication about us "looking to buy" flats despite being told categorically that we weren't.

What we are doing is looking at two temporary locations for cameras outside the Park.

The first is in a small building on the south of the site where we will have office space and a reporting position between now and the start of the Games.

This is because we're now broadcasting from the area more or less every day, and since none of the official facilities are ready this will give us a base for a wide range of BBC programmes where a lot of Olympic news is happening.

Then we're looking at the roof of a Newham council tower block for use during the Games themselves, where we would station much of our news operation and the people who are not accredited to work within the Park.

This would have the benefit of an excellent view over all the venues, from a vantage point that isn't possible within the site itself. We also intend to sub-let space to international broadcasters to recoup some of the cost.

Both of these places would be rented. The total cost of the rents will be a small - and I mean small - fraction of �1m; and words like "studio penthouse" and "exclusive block" are simply misleading.

The overall picture here is that the Olympic Games and the related events in 2012 will be the most extensive series of outside broadcasts the BBC has done.

We're determined to do them well, and all our research says that audiences want us to prioritise these big moments in our national life.

But we're equally determined to give value-for-money, so every line of our budgets is scrutinised - and draft financial plans are routinely sent back to be reworked at lower cost.

Anyone working on the Olympic project will tell you it's utterly untrue that our attitude is "no expense spared". We will publish the final bill at the end of the Games, and it's one we'll be prepared to justify in detail as a way of bringing London 2012 to viewers and listeners across the UK.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/rogermosey/2011/02/one_of_the_reasons_for.html

Giuseppe Meazza Rivelino Didi Ian Rush