So here for the record is the true position.

It's emphatically their ceremony and Danny Boyle's creative vision, with the main television coverage from a global feed and not filmed by the BBC.

But we've wanted to support them to the best of our ability - hence the special films we've made and a range of logistical help behind the scenes.

On commentary we initially felt it would be influenced by two factors. First, there's a particularly strong soundtrack in the stadium.

And also Locog originally planned to talk more about the big themes of the ceremony ahead of time than has actually been the case.

So what we've been doing in recent weeks is meeting with Danny Boyle to talk through how this will work in practice.

Huw Edwards, the team and I have a great relationship with Danny; and he's told us that in planning the ceremony he's sometimes thought about what Huw might say at what point.

Understanding this is key to making the ceremony work for television viewers - and though the ceremony is Locog's and the commentary is ours, it's massively better if we get into the director's mind and see what he's trying to achieve.

We can also work out where the gaps are where comment is appropriate, and where the music should not be interrupted.

So disappointingly for anyone looking for rows, there haven't been any: just sensible planning and working together for the benefit of our respective audiences.

What I'm going to do is pick up some of the main issues about our coverage, and give people the chance to offer us feedback.

So here's the first one, which is advance notice of the way we're going to have to arrange our commentary services for the Opening Ceremony.

We said a while ago that we'd offer Audio Description - a commentary service specially tailored for people who are blind or partially-sighted - for the first time live for the Olympic Opening Ceremony.

But on Freeview unfortunately we've discovered a quirk of the digital age, which is that TV platforms can struggle and go "blocky" when we play out the same pictures on multiple channels - especially when the pictures have a lot of activity in them.

Over the past month a lot of technical effort has gone into trying to finding a solution.

Audio only option

But we've reluctantly accepted that on Freeview we can't broadcast the same pictures, as had been planned, on BBC One standard-definition; channel 301 (which would have accommodated the two audio choices); and on the BBC News Channel, with some pictures also appearing in the News on BBC Two.

The result is that we're having to reduce the Freeview 301 offering to audio-only, which means the AD service will be there - but not the "no commentary" option, which won't be available on Digital Terrestrial services.

We know this will disappoint some people, and we've tried really hard to find a solution.

But we have to follow this course to protect the picture quality on BBC One where the overwhelming majority will be watching.

And, as I say, if you use cable or satellite or click on our website then you will find all the services as previously advertised - and Audio Description will still be on Freeview albeit as sound only.

But we also knew that this would be a summer where people would want to enjoy the build-up to the big event.

That's why we committed to covering the Olympic torch relay on every step of the journey and why we've always been enthusiastic supporters of the London 2012 Festival.

The festival, meanwhile, has had some remarkable broadcast pieces: the Radio 1 Hackney Weekend, Britain In A Day, the Simon Bolivar Orchestra concert from Stirling - and the magnificent series of Shakespeare films on BBC Two.

As we get closer to the Games, the emphasis naturally moves towards sport and I want to pick out some of the programmes you'll be able to see and hear before the Opening Ceremony.

It's not a comprehensive list, but I hope it illustrates the range that's on offer across the BBC.

The most ambitious series runs this week. "Faster, Higher, Stronger" is four one-hour history programmes about the Olympics, though they're not a typical chronology of the Games.

Mark Spitz, who won a then record seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics

Instead, each show is based around a particular sport or event: the 100m, the 1500m, swimming and gymnastics.

What makes it for me is the brilliant use of archive, which offers both nostalgia and insight. I'd no idea until now about how the butterfly stroke started, for instance; and the dissection of how the 100m is run is the best I've seen on television.

It's all supplemented with interviews with the stars as they are today, and journalists at the BBC Olympics launch loved Nadia Comaneci's account of that perfect 10 in Montreal.

Highly recommended not just by me but by the newspaper previewers too. Monday to Thursday at 7pm on BBC Two.

There are more sport documentaries coming up on BBC One.

The featured stars are:

• Usain Bolt, July 16

• Victoria Pendleton, July 18

• Tom Daley, provisionally July 26

Over on BBC Three there will be a film they're calling the "Bad Boy Olympian" - judo's Ashley McKenzie - as well as a countdown of the Olympics' Amazing Moments.

On July 17 they'll be asking the question, increasingly salient, "Can Anyone Beat Bolt?"

Throughout London's Olympic and Paralympic story, probably the most diligent chronicler in the BBC has been Radio 5 Live and they're not letting up in the closing days.

This week on the evening of July 10 we have a Virtual Medal Table - looking at how Team GB might do - and on July 11 an Olympic Glossary that tries to explain the Games. Then the regular London Calling strand with Eleanor Oldroyd goes international on July 12.

For those who aren't out-and-out sport fans, we have other genres coming into play too.

The warm, history-based drama "Bert and Dickie" will have a peak slot on BBC One just before the Games; and the show we all love in the BBC 2012 project "Twenty Twelve" will be raising some laughs again from Tuesday night on BBC Two.

We'll alert you to more programmes and the precise timings as each one becomes closer; and our hope is that by the time we're ready for the Opening Ceremony, you'll be in the mood for the feast of live sport that follows.

It's one of the more intimidating outings for a broadcasting executive because the media correspondents from many of the national newspapers are there - from The Guardian to The Sun - and it's also "on the record": everything you say can be reported.

A small number of stories did emerge - about the technology we're planning to use and about the Opening Ceremony, where I'd note that "creative risk" remains a good thing in my book.

The reason it didn't make headlines, I'd like to think, is that the case is a rational one: the scheduling makes it difficult, and viewing habits have changed.

But I know a previous blog on this subject a couple of years back received some mixed reaction, so let me spin through the argument in a bit more detail.

First, the live action from the London Games will continue until almost midnight.

Not all of it will be front-rank sport, but we want the ability to take you to the continuing live events whether it's basketball or beach volleyball or boxing.

In which case it's impossible to schedule highlights on BBC One until midnight - and if you were waiting for a particular sport it might not take to the air until close to 1am.

This is a different case from Athens, the last time the Games were in a European time-zone, where the two-hour difference meant the action finished early enough to allow for a highlights show.

Live action from the Olympic Games will continue well into the evening

But second, the thinning out of the sport schedule as the day winds down does allow for the programme that will come on air at 10.40pm - hosted by Gabby Logan - to combine the live sport that remains with some of the biggest moments of the day that's passed.

In particular, we expect to get many of the medal-winners into the studio for this programme; so we'd hope to celebrate their achievements and watch their performances with them, interspersed by updates on the action that's continuing.

This mixed approach makes more editorial sense than that programme being either live only or highlights only.

The third big factor in our thinking is that there's now a multitude of ways to catch highlights without there being a dedicated show.

There's the sport website, which will include the ability to rewind and review any session; there's the iPlayer; and there will be headlines including clips of the best bits across our BBC One and BBC Three schedule, including the news bulletins.

And the evidence of other sport events is that audiences for highlights have dwindled massively, precisely because there are so many other ways to see what you want.

But even then we're making sure we do cater for people who want a digest of each day's Olympics with a high story count and all the relevant information.

There will be special editions of Sportsday on the BBC News Channel at 6.30pm, 10.30pm and 0.15am - with the latter also broadcast on BBC One - so you can catch anything you may have missed. If there's something you want to see at greater length, the choice will be yours via all our catch-up services.

Additionally, as we announced a few months back, there will be a 3D highlights programme - a chance to see the day through a different pair of lenses - scheduled on the BBC HD channel around 11pm each night.

As a statement of the obvious, this will only include sport that was filmed in 3D for the world feed; so it won't include some non-3D sports like rowing and sailing.

Finally we will, of course, also be reviewing the Games at the end of the 17 days.

The ultimate highlights programme is likely to run in the hour or so before the Closing Ceremony and that will be the polished, considered view of the whole of London 2012 in the same style as our much-appreciated review of Beijing in 2008.

The aim overall: that you need never miss a moment, and that we'll help you find anything you want to view live and then again at the time of your choice.

Well, after today it's two down and only one to go.

The torch is almost half way through its journey and the festival is officially under way.

It's another inspiring story in a year that is already showcasing great performances and the human beings behind them.

It seems like the festival itself has made huge strides from the little-understood "Cultural Olympiad" with which the arts contribution to London 2012 began.

People understand the idea of a festival; they like the events that offer free tickets and it's another way in which the whole of the UK can feel part of the Olympics.

There will be something near you and it has a decent chance of being good - or in some cases, to use one of the favourite cultural words, "extraordinary".

Here at the BBC we've long supported the Cultural Olympiad and now the London 2012 Festival across many of our platforms and services. And the best is yet to come.

Rehearsals ahead of the Simon Bolivar Orchestra concert in Stirling

That may sound ambitious considering the critical success of "Britain In A Day", but after the Simon Bolivar Orchestra's concert in Scotland we move to London for Radio 1's Hackney Weekend - the biggest event in the station's history, and probably the most star-studded line-up for any concert in the world this year.

Then from July 13th there's the BBC Proms season, which again promises global talent and incredible moments, and live every night on Radio 3.

In drama, the highlight of the Shakespeare season will be the BBC's epic films of the 'middle histories' - Richard II, Henry IV parts 1 and 2 and Henry V - which are coming soon to BBC Two.

And our London season, about our capital's history and culture and people, has been drawing appreciative audiences with Julien Temple's film celebration of the city another likely high-spot.

Many of these events will be on the BBC Big Screens - our official Live Sites partnership with Locog, city councils and other partners.

Stirling is a particularly good example because there'll be a live relay to the Big Screens ahead of the BBC Four broadcast later in the evening.

This commitment to the arts is designed to complement the sport we're looking forward to from the end of July, and it's part of the simple promise we made: we want to offer something for everybody inspired by London 2012.

Most people will thrill to the 100m final, but if you don't, there's Barenboim or Hiddleston or Rihanna.

Or best of all - try something new, and see if you enjoy it. This summer is about opportunities that may not come by again.

Of all of them, we can predict that the biggest television audience globally will be for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. Statistics should always be treated with caution, as I've mentioned here before.

But on July 27th we can expect an enormous live international viewing figure, with getting on for three-quarters of the world's population seeing something of London's ceremony in news bulletins and subsequent replays of the key moments.

From the initial "Isles of Wonder" concept to today's disclosure of the pastoral scene that will welcome spectators, we can see the outlines of what's being planned - but there's no avoiding the fact that a lot will be at stake on the night.

That struck me forcibly yesterday as I looked at Olympic Park from a vantage point in Canary Wharf and could barely see it through the rain and murk.

Of course, the Opening Ceremony is organised by Locog and it's Danny's creative vision.

It will be transmitted globally via host broadcast operations. But here at the BBC we want to support as best we can the moment when the United Kingdom presents itself to such a massive audience.

Danny Boyle surveys a model of the set being built in the stadium

That's why we're announcing today that the BBC is being designated as the "London 2012 Olympic Ceremonies Featured Film Producer" and we'll be contributing two short films to the Opening Ceremony.

I'm not going to give much more away because we want there to be some surprises on the night, however much giddy speculation and rumour there is beforehand.

But Danny Boyle will be using film and other media to supplement the action in the stadium and pretty much the first thing viewers globally will see is a piece of film made by BBC Drama.

That doesn't mean it's a drama: simply that we're using the in-house department most used to doing a specific type of filming. Then another short film will appear later.

The BBC will be involved in the ceremony in other supporting roles too because as the national broadcaster we think it's right that we should support the UK's representation of itself - and, quite simply, we want this to be a great progamme for British viewers to watch along with the the rest of the world.

We've no doubt that opinions will vary about the extent to which that succeeds, but this is one occasion when sitting on the sidelines isn't an option. It's a challenge for the creative sector to show what Britain can do, and we're ready to play our part.

Usually you know where you stand with a big news event. Last year's royal wedding took place at Westminster Abbey.

End of. It didn't up sticks every 10 minutes and set itself alight.

The torch relay is something different. Live events often perambulate at a stately pace over a short distance.

They involve world leaders or Popes waving serenely to the crowd as they pass. Not the relay though. It's relentless.

Conventional TV trucks and outside broadcast vehicles work well at static positions along the relay but each will only give you a short window of coverage. Once the torchbearer has passed you, you're old news.

Helicopter cameras are another option and although we will use them occasionally, flying one for 12+ hours a day for 70 days isn't a cost-effective solution.

A satellite dish on the roof of the vehicle was also considered. Fine for big open spaces but the signal goes once you've passed a building or even a tree.

A reverse view of torchcam with photographers seated underneath, ready to capture the action

In the end we went for 3G as it seemed to give us what we needed. Network coverage and drop-outs aside, it's not without issues.

When the relay travels to Ireland, for instance, we have to use Irish sims to avoid roaming charges.

So what about the cameras? The only way to get the shots we wanted was to embed the live cameras with the relay so they moved with the torchbearers, telling a story while they gave the viewer a tour of the UK.

To achieve this, one of the vehicles in Locog's convoy has been set up as a mobile broadcast unit. A converted horsebox, It's been fitted with the three cameras and technical equipment that make up BBC torchcam.

The rear camera gives you the classic torchbearer running shot. It needed to deal with all that the UK's roads could throw at it, from speed humps to potholes, so we picked a gyrostabilised camera usually used to cover yacht races.

A "real" cameraman and the electronic one work side-by-side

A second camera on the roof of the vehicle gives great wide views of crowds and scenery and the third, front facing, "convoy mode" camera shows you the road ahead (and, on occasion, a minibus with two bikes strapped the the back of it).

During months of testing, we put the horsebox and the cameras through their paces at the test track used by our colleagues at Top Gear.

At one point members of BBC torch team were doing a simulated relay with planks of wood borrowed from a building site instead of torches.

Some of the kit we're using was still in bubblewrap a month ago and had never been used to broadcast. A week into the relay, we're still tweaking things as we go.

Torchcam is never going to work everywhere. The lack of 3G in some areas of the UK and contention in others make it impossible to achieve total coverage.

The crowds have made the story, but have also made the story a challenge to cover for television and radio.

Getting stuck in the traffic that builds up behind the relay has led to a few hairy moments as camera crews and reporters try to hit their editing deadlines or attempt to get to the next live broadcast position along the route.

There's always a nerve-wracking moment in event planning when the big day arrives. You hold your breath, cross your fingers and hope that everything falls into the right place at the right time.

Our moment came shortly after 7am on Saturday. Members of my team, who run the BBC's online torch relay pages, waited anxiously for Ben Ainslie to set off from the signpost at Land's End.

This was the culmination of many brainstorms and briefings followed by design and development.

This was crunch time. Would it work? How good would the picture be? Would people even want to watch a stream that switched between torchbearers and blurry fields rushing past?

We had our answers pretty quickly:

1. Yes
2. Much better than expected
3. You bet

The technology we're using to deliver a constant video feed to our web pages is working over the 3G network, which is more miss than hit in many parts of the UK.

Innovation was uppermost in the minds of the engineers, technicians, web developers and editorial minds who considered a range of options for how to cover the torch relay.

Satellite uplinks for 70 days would have been prohibitively expensive. In the end, we went for a solution which gives us affordable, continuous coverage even though we knew we'd lose the pictures at times.

It's frustrating when they do drop out, but now that we're seeing our colleague Torchcam in action, we're even more convinced that having eminently watchable pictures for 75/80% of the time is better than infrequent live inserts and some recorded highlights every day.

The quality of the pictures has exceeded the expectations we had after seeing the results of a day-long rehearsal in Leicestershire in April. More than that, the strength of the editorial story unfolding in front of us has been remarkable.

Sun-kissed crowds are lining the route, sometimes five-deep and more, to cheer on their relatives, friends and complete strangers during their 300 metres of fame.

Strong, human stories abound. Top of my list so far is Andy Seaward, 67, who has Parkinson's Disease and was helped from his wheelchair to walk the last few yards of his Olympic moment.

We knew the torch would be the spark that would light many people's interest in the Olympics but perhaps not quite this much, this soon.

Twitter has been full of messages containing our hashtage #bbctorchcam, supporting the torchbearers and shouting out expressions of pride in communities along the route.

Some have told us that Torchcam has become cult viewing, even addictive.

Yes, there have been lots of angry messages when the stream fails. It's ironic that the chance of losing the pictures rises when the streets are busier - the very points at which there's more interest and possibly a big name such as Will.i.am running.

More people = more mobile phones = more demand on the 3G network = higher chance of us losing the signal.

We've been asked to make torchbearers' names and stories available. We looked at creating a data feed from the organisers, Locog, but had to discount the idea when we discovered it wouldn't be "dynamic", by which I mean that if a runner dropped out, the change wouldn't feed through automatically to our pages.

The best option was simply to link to Locog's own site, where you can see the runners' names and stories and we've done this from the lower right hand side of each page. Keep an eye on our live text updates beside the video, where we do mention some runners' names and their backgrounds.

The number of people reading our online torch relay pages in the months leading up to Saturday told us there was a sizeable audience for our coverage and this has been borne out by performance figures for the week up to Sunday.

Our 70 torch relay pages had a total of 2.3m hits, the highest day being Saturday with 921,920. There were 607,780 unique browsers (the nearest measurement we have to individual people) over the week.

We have some changes in store for the torch relay video. We hope to introduce some of the functionality you'll see as part of our digital Olympics experience, through which you'll watch the sporting action from the Games.

We'll let you know as soon as we can when it will be introduced.

Meanwhile, we have 65 days ahead of us and no doubt some testing yet exhilarating times to come.

Here's hoping our colleague, Torchcam, keeps turning up for work.

London's Olympic flame will be lit in Greece this Thursday and then on 18 May it will be with us here in the UK.

That means the BBC's coverage of the torch relay begins, and we'll be offering everyone the chance to follow the journey from Olympia to East London with whatever twists and turns there are along the route.

Coverage will be on the BBC News Channel, Radio 5 Live and our usual online portfolio including our 2012 website.

Then it will be mainly BBC News reporting of the relay through Greece, in what is a particularly turbulent time politically for that country.

A week later, on the evening of 17 May, there's the handover of the flame in Athens from its Greek custodians to the London 2012 team - which will involve the Princess Royal and Seb Coe amid more white robes.

This will be live not just on our news output but also on BBC Two in a programme starting at 5.15pm.

Next morning the flame takes to the skies and is flown from Athens to RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall, where it will arrive - all being well - within a special edition of The One Show live from 7 to 8pm.

The BBC has begun highlighting the Olympic torch relay with a trail on television and online

It's not a huge ceremony but it's a significant moment when the flame is on British soil for the first time ahead of its journey around almost every part of our islands.

The relay starts the next morning at Land's End with live coverage on BBC One's Breakfast and across our radio and online services - though it's a good job it has an early debut because it's a day packed with big events including the Championship play-off at Wembley and the Champions League Final in Munich.

Radio 1 will be (optimistically) starting its summer that night, too.

But if you want to follow the torch all the way, you'll be able to do that online. The BBC Torchcam - #bbctorchcam on Twitter - will be aboard a media vehicle within the convoy that surrounds the runners and as well as providing news coverage it will be offering a continuous stream of the relay's journey.

It won't quite be live: for technical reasons to do with making the picture as reliable as possible, we're expecting a delay of about two minutes.

But when we get nearer the time we'll be explaining how you'll be able to follow where the torch actually is as well as where it's been - and where it's going to.

I said in a magazine piece a couple of weeks ago that some people - a minority, we hope - may find this about as interesting as The Paint-Drying Channel.

But it's part of our commitment to the whole of the UK that we'll be marking the daily celebrations in our Nations and Regions programming, including local radio, as well as judiciously on the main networks.

The evidence so far is that the torch relay attracts a lot of attention online - two million hits in one day when the route was published - as well as massive interest in the towns it will be visiting.

Plus, of course, it will be this flame that makes its appearance in the Olympic Stadium on the night of 27 July, when we expect one billion people to be watching live - and there'll be no mistaking its role at the heart of London's Games.

Pulling it all together, the highlights are:

- 33 hours a day of live television across BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Three.

- At peak, 24 live HD channels meaning you can watch every venue from first thing in the morning to last thing at night

- Comprehensive coverage on 5 Live, supplemented by a new temporary digital radio station - 5 Live Olympics Extra

- First ever 3D broadcast coverage of the Olympics to include the ceremonies and the 100m final live on the BBC

- Super Hi Vision test transmissions in Glasgow, Bradford and London - also a world first

- More online and mobile services than ever before

- News presentation, including 24-hour-a-day news on all platforms at home and abroad

Our BBC accredited staff numbers for London 2012 will be 765 - an increase compared with the 493 we had in Beijing, of whom 437 were flown from London to China. This is inevitable given two things:

1 - The massive increase in output - with four times as many TV channels and an extra radio station compared with Beijing, and double the overall number of hours.

2 - A home Games, where there will be more coverage by BBC News and our Nations and Regions alongside the predicted greater level of interest in the sport.

To illustrate the first point, providing 24 digital channels means that we need extra commentators and pundits. Otherwise there'd be nobody to explain what's going on at 26 different sports.

And whereas in Beijing we went on air pretty much straight into the opening ceremony, in London we're expecting a full day of ceremonial events and news coverage about the way the capital and the whole of the country are gearing up for the start of the Games.

The opening ceremony for the Olympic Games takes place in the Olympic Stadium on Friday 27 July. Picture: Getty Images.

Throughout, audiences will expect us to report on security, travel and organisational issues alongside the live sport on a significantly different scale to Athens or Beijing.

There will be some critics who challenge these kind of numbers, and indeed who would attack any number greater than a dozen, so let me give a few quick facts for context.

Big events require significant staffing levels.

Our American colleagues at NBC have used over 2,800 staff at previous Olympics, while The Times reported that there were 380 staff working on Sky Sports' excellent host-broadcasting operation for last year's Champions League final at Wembley. Sky have said in the past that 130 people are involved in covering a single Premier League game.

Meanwhile, there's also the very strange argument that it's a problem if the BBC staffing levels are greater than the size of Team GB - as if a Team GB of 1,000 people would then make it ok for us to have 999.

In fact, we have to cover all the nations taking part in the Olympics; and our teams are driven by the scale of the overall coverage, not the number of British athletes competing.

Then there's the question about how many of the BBC staff will come down from Sport's new home in Salford, and the answer is just 23 per cent.

Most of our people are London-based because they're either in our core 2012 planning team, which has remained in the capital, or in our News operation.

For those who do travel down, there will be overnight stays; but we've always been clear that almost all of them would have qualified for it anyway given the need to start early, finish late and get to venues on time - and many will be put up in low-cost student-type accommodation.

At every stage of the BBC 2012 operation, we've been conscious of the need to run as efficient an operation as we can do and to spend our budget wisely.

But equally we know that British audiences expect us to cover these Games well, and it's a once-in-a-lifetime moment for this country where the broadcasting will be required to live up to the event.

We believe we're striking that balance, and we'll aim to supply our best-ever range of content this summer to tens of millions of people.

In England we know we're in the middle of a drought, while to the world's journalists it confirmed it always rains in London.

Here at the BBC we're marking the day with our special preview programme tonight but also with more announcements about ways you'll be able to view our content during Games time.

This is in line with the agreements with Sky and Freesat and the 24 streams will also be available on the BBC Sport and 2012 websites.

Now we can also tell you about some good news for Freeview HD viewers.

Thanks to some newly-released digital space, the BBC will be broadcasting an additional high definition service on the Freeview HD platform over the Games period.

This will be a simulcast of the BBC's main Red Button service on Freeview, also available on channel 301, delivered in glorious HD.

Viewers will be able to watch live action from all the Olympic venues including the Aquatics Centre. Pic: Getty Images.

Capacity limitations mean we would be unable to deliver 24 streams to Freeview audiences through their TVs, but this extra service will bring the number of high definition services available on Freeview HD over the Olympic Games period to three.

It's worth noting that the Freeview red button service will be picking the best of the action from the sports not being covered on BBC One and BBC Three, so we'll deliver more top-quality Olympic action from a range of venues in subscription-free HD.

BBC One HD and BBC HD can be found at Freeview HD EPG positions 50 and 54 respectively.

For ease of navigation, Freeview HD viewers will be able to access the additional temporary high definition service directly via the red button from these channels and it will also be listed on the Freeview HD EPG at position 304 with the other BBC Red Button services on Freeview (301 and 302).

That means viewers with PVRs (Personal Video Recorders) will be able to record even more BBC Olympics coverage in high definition.

Juggling these multiple platforms is pretty complex, as you'll have spotted by now.

But the pledge on 100 Days To Go is simple: more choice on more platforms. This includes more HD than ever before, including the first Olympics in HD on Freeview, and big live moments plus daily highlights in 3D.

And I confess I'm personally not that keen on preview programmes, because at worst they can be a load of hot air that tells us little that's fresh.

All of which is a rather unpromising opening to a piece recommending that you watch a special programme about the London Olympics being transmitted this Wednesday - when it's 100 Days To Go.

We, and some others, have not traditionally placed them in prominent parts of the schedule - which is one reason why this time round the IOC commissioned the BBC to make the official preview in the hope that it would be a more compelling piece of broadcasting.

We were delighted to be asked, and that 30 minute show is now being transmitted across the globe.

It was, however, something of an outside view of London designed for audiences from Peru to Papua New Guinea. So here in the UK we've adapted and extended the programme to give it more of a British focus and to capture some of the Team GB hopefuls who will be aiming for success this summer.

As you may guess, this is not a programme about the cost of the Games - we've covered that countless times in our news reporting.

Nor is it about the potential risks around transport, security or organisation - because there'll be plenty of time for those in the weeks to come. But what it does have is a stellar cast, and some beautifully-filmed images of the London that the world will see in 100 days' time.

She's probably the best example of the years of effort that go into the performances that we'll see on our TV screens between July 27 and August 12, with the stark revelation about whether the dedication has paid off - or not.

So I hope you'll find time to watch "2012 Olympics - One Hundred Days To Go" on BBC One this Wednesday. It's at 10.45pm in England and Wales, or 11.15pm in Scotland and Northern Ireland - with catch-up on the BBC iPlayer.

And if previews are not for you - at least the action is now only a hundred days away...

The first is that these will be the Games where HD (High Definition) is mainstream, and if you're like my family and friends, then for events like the 100m final you'd probably want to be sprawled on the sofa in front of a TV set to watch every detail on your own large screen.

That's what our flagship channels BBC One and BBC Three will deliver across a range of events - taking you to the action when it matters and catching the medal-winning performances.

The second is that these are the first truly digital Olympics where we'll offer more choice than ever before, and the pledge we made is that you'll be able to watch sport from every venue from first thing in the morning to last thing at night.

How times have changed: The 24 extra BBC-branded Olympic channels will massively extend choice for viewers

At peak this will mean we bring in 24 HD streams of content - with the result that hockey fans can watch live uninterrupted hockey, and table tennis fans can stick all day with their sport too.

This represents four times more channels than in Beijing, and a total of around 2500 hours of live sport - which is at least double what we've offered in the past.

The main way we planned for you to be able to watch those 24 streams was via our BBC Sport and 2012 websites.

But we were always conscious that in a perfect world we'd try to make the services available on your television, because we recognise that the 40-inch HD experience is one that the hockey and table tennis fans and the rest might want for their dedicated service as well as for BBC One and BBC Three.

So we're pleased to announce today that's precisely what we're offering to a range of television platform operators - that they can use the BBC's 24 streams in standard or high definition to create additional television channels through the BBC red button and their Electronic Programme Guides.

We've had discussions with cable and satellite providers on a non-exclusive basis to see if they'd like to run BBC-branded Olympic channels that will massively extend choice for their viewers in addition to what we can offer ourselves online, via the BBC iPlayer or through connected TV services.

The aim is that you'd be able to pick from watching BBC Olympics 1 right through to BBC Olympics 24 with full programme guides and the ability to record your favourite sports.

Many of those discussions are still continuing, but the BBC, Sky and Freesat have announced today that they've come to an agreement that will deliver the 24 channels to all Sky and Freesat homes. Sky will also pick up the costs of satellite distribution, irrespective of whether other platforms join in - though we hope and believe there'll be more announcements soon.

Just to underline - this is a distribution agreement for the Sky platform and Freesat, and it's not about sharing the broadcast rights which remain with the BBC within the UK.

This is no different from existing BBC channels being on Sky, Virgin, Freesat and BT Vision. But clearly we're delighted by the ability to get BBC channels to as many people as possible on the device of their choosing.

We should be clear that not every platform will be able to accommodate such a huge technical offer, which amounts to 48 channels in total if you count 24 SD (Standard Definition) plus 24 HD.

But for Freeview users at peak there will be two extra channels (Channel 301 and 302) available via the EPG and BBC Red Button, that will double the choice on offer from BBC One and BBC Three - meaning that from 7pm you'll have at least 4 television services plus the full 24-stream service via our website.

As ever, we'll keep you up-to-date here with further developments.

But in the complexity of navigation through all the content of a digital Olympics, which my colleague Phil Fearnley writes more about here, we reckon this is an exciting development that will make BBC content more convenient and simpler to find.

I want to highlight the importance of our news services in complementing what we deliver from the other genres, including the Games-time sport.

It's odd when you think back now - but when London was bidding for the Olympics, the vigour of the British media was seen as a disadvantage.

It was thought the IOC wouldn't like the challenge there is in this country, as opposed to the control of China or more compliant host nations.

The decision-makers should be held to account, and the voice of the public - whether supportive or critical - should be heard.

But there is, just occasionally, a question about how it is that the BBC can corporately want the London Games to be a success - and yet foster a news operation globally, nationally and locally that will scrutinise every bit of the story.

The answer is pretty simple.

As a public service broadcaster, we support the success of the people of Britain and the Olympic Games is the biggest sporting event in the world, on our doorstep and supported by all the major political parties.

So in the same way that we'd rather it didn't rain throughout Wimbledon - and that we get great competitive finals in which the best men and women win, watched by large audiences, and with Wimbledon enduring as the world's greatest tennis tournament - yes, we would like the Olympic Games to turn out well.

However it's vital to retaining the trust of our audiences that we tell the news story of the London Games fairly and impartially.

Whether it's a story of glorious weather and golden success, or transport chaos, drought and disorganisation, the BBC will be independent in its coverage.

The threat of traffic congestion is a major worry for this summer's Olympics.

We will never let our partnerships dictate our journalism, and the IOC and Locog know that they will get tough questioning about any problems - alongside our live coverage of what we hope will be brilliant athletics, swimming, cycling and the rest.

And this is not automatic in the modern media world. Commercial interests or government pressure, as we can see in some foreign countries, can tame journalism.

It's as important to maintain the independence of what we do as it is to share the events with the greatest number of people.

A world of pay barriers and compliant reporting isn't one that serves the public good, and this summer we aim to show the advantages of universal access alongside the benefits of lively, independent media with BBC journalism at the forefront.

And it is - with an appropriate fanfare - the Olympic torch relay.

On Monday, as we published details of the Torch's route across the UK, there were more than 2m views of that information on bbc.co.uk.

This ties in with the research that shows it's the thing more people want to try to see than anything else, which is perfectly logical given that the flame will travel all around the country and could even be coming along your street.

It's a chance to share the Olympics across the whole of the United Kingdom, and if it works it should do two things - help everyone feel part of London 2012, but also celebrate the communities of our islands as they have their moment in the spotlight.

We'll disclose our network coverage plans nearer the time. Today, though, we're announcing a range of programming across the BBC's Nations and Regions - which will mean audiences will have unrivalled access to the Olympic torch story when it's in their area.

Each of the BBC's Nations and Regions will transmit a special extended version of their flagship News programmes when the flame is in their patch. This means they will be on air from 6.30 to 7.30, replacing The One Show for just one night. The plan looks like this:

22 May Olympic Torch Live: West, Bristol
24 May Olympic Torch Live: West Midlands, Worcester
25 May Olympic Torch Live: Wales, Cardiff
1 June Olympic Torch Live: North West, Liverpool
6 June Olympic Torch Live: Northern Ireland, Belfast
13 June Olympic Torch Live: Scotland, Edinburgh
15 June Olympic Torch Live: North East, Newcastle
18 June Olympic Torch Live: East Yorks and Lincs, Hull
25 June Olympic Torch Live: Look North (Yorks), Sheffield
29 June Olympic Torch Live: East Midlands, Derby
3 July Olympic Torch Live: East, Peterborough
12 July Olympic Torch Live: South West, Weymouth
13 July Olympic Torch Live: South, Bournemouth
18 July Olympic Torch Live: South East, Dover

The shows will be live from the evening celebration events in our major towns and cities and we're confident they'll be a popular addition to the schedule. But if for some reason you'd rather stay with the network schedule, you'll be able to on satellite and cable providers or by tuning to BBC One HD.

This will be supplemented by radio - by the national stations Radio Ulster, Radio Scotland, Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, and by local radio across the English regions.

Most typically the flagship output will be at breakfast time as the Torch is starting its journey, but you'll be able to keep in touch all day while the torchbearers and convoys are wending their way across the countryside.

On the evidence of previous host countries, it's when the flame makes its appearance that the public realise the Games are really, finally about to begin.

The UK looks like it's already spotted that, so we'll do our best to live up to those expectations locally and regionally as well as nationally and internationally.