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Channel 4 has promised to make Paralympic athletes "household names" in its coverage of the 2012 event in London.

The channel, which is the UK's official Paralympics broadcaster, will show at least 150 hours of live coverage.

It has promised to spend £500,000 finding and training people with disabilities to host their coverage.

And, starting later this month, Channel 4 will show a series of programmes designed to raise the Games' profile.

'Edgy and fearless'

There will also be a 10-week magazine programme called That Paralympic Show, presented by Rick Edwards and wheelchair basketball medallist Ade Adepitan.

Adepitan said the channel's "edgy and fearless" approach "will turn our Paralympians into household names".

Channel 4's acting chief creative officer, Julian Bellamy, said: "This is a big job to do. Research we have done... shows that 84% of the British public couldn't name a single British Paralympian - despite the fact Great Britain came second in the medals table at the Beijing Olympics."

2012 will be the first time Channel 4 has shown the Games. The ����ý has covered every other Paralympic Games since 1980.