Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium is betting that Canadians still have an appetite for Olympic programming, and so is offering up extensive coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, happening March 12-21.

The Consortium has announced it will deliver 57 hours of HD television Games coverage – a record for Canadian coverage – in English and French. It is also the first complete HD production of the Paralympic Winter Games by a Canadian rights-holder.

Broken down by language, the deal includes 27 hours of coverage in English on CTV, TSN and Rogers Sportsnet as well as 30 hours of coverage in French on RDS and RIS Info Sports. Brian Williams will host the Opening Ceremony, Dave Randorff will deliver a play-by-play during live coverage of Team Canada’s sledge hockey games, and Jamie Campbell will host a daily 90-minute highlights show recapping the day’s highs and lows.

In French, the opening ceremony will be anchored by Claude Mailhot and Claudine Douville, who will narrate the sledge hockey with analyst Jonathan Plante. Mailhot will also host the recap show.

In addition to television, the Consortium’s multi-platform coverage includes radio, through partners Rogers Radio and Corus Québec, and two dedicated websites – CTVParalympics.ca and RDSparalympiques.ca. Print partner the Globe and Mail will produce a eight-page section on the Paralympic Games, on newsstands March 11.