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June 29, 2009

BBC defends 400-plus staffing at Glastonbury Festival

By paulmcnally

The BBC has defended its decision to send 405 people to cover the Glastonbury Festival – almost as many as the 437 it sent to last summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing.

125 staff, 150 freelances and 130 short-term contractors were at the event this weekend, according to the Mail on Sunday.

The BBC produced 111 hours of television coverage, more than 60 hours of radio output and a website featuring 600 pages and 57 hours of video.

A spokesman told the Sunday Times: “Our coverage of the festival is not comparable with the Olympics. We are the official broadcast partner to Glastonbury and are responsible for all broadcast infrastructure and transmission. Our pictures will be used around the world.”

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