The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is to scrutinise potential broadcasting partners more carefully in future after US rights holders NBC failed to show any live 2012 action.

NBC scheduled four hour-long highlights programmes on the NBC Sports channel, followed by one 90-minute round-up.

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IPC president Sir Philip Craven said of future media partners: “We’ll examine their values as they will examine ours.

“If the values fit, we’ve got a chance. If they don’t we’ll go somewhere else.”

The London 2012 Paralympic Games ended on Sunday with a spectacular closing ceremony featuring performances from Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay-Z.

Channel 4 aired 400 hours of Paralympic coverage in the UK, while Australia’s ABC screened more than 100 hours.

In Japan viewers had a nightly one-hour highlights programme. Its capital Tokyo is bidding to host the 2020 Games.

NBC did not show any live action and its 90-minute round-up programme will not be broadcast until 16 September.

Yet the broadcaster said the total of five-and-a-half hours represented an improvement on the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, when viewers got a single 90-minute highlights package.

“The people of the USA, for example, particularly the parents and families of the athletes, they are all ready for Paralympic sport,” Sir Philip added.

“Take the plunge, take the risk and then you’ll succeed.”

NBC said its coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games was the “most-watched television event in US history”, with 219 million people watching over the duration of the event.

But it drew criticism for delaying the broadcast of popular events until prime time hours.

Viewers also complained of problems with online streaming and edited versions of the opening and closing ceremonies.

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How the world saw the Paralympics

As the final day of the Paralympic Games unfolded across London, media commentators from around the world have reflected on its achievements.

The host nation’s enthusiasm for the event also caught the media’s eye. As one German newspaper put it: “The British can not only organise, they can celebrate.”

China’s Xinhua news agency said: “London has pushed the Paralympics to a new height after taking over the legacy of the Beijing Paralympics.”

It added that a better understanding of disability had become “one of the core parts of the ‘Paralympic story’. It said it was struck by the spirit of “increasingly fierce competition at the Paralympics”.

Bahrain’s Gulf daily went as far as to say that the abiding legacy of London 2012 may not be the victories of the likes of Mo Farah or Bradley Wiggins, but the “fundamental change in the way much of the world looks at disability”.

It said the Paralympics “have swiftly taught us to look beyond disability towards achievement”.

Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper said the games “have given humanity an opportunity to push the limits of human capacity to adapt as evident in the stunning performances of disabled athletes”.

Germany’s Zeit daily said: “The British can not only organise, they can celebrate. With seemingly boundless enthusiasm they cheered in the packed stadiums every last runner to finish the Paralympics.”

Australia’s Canberra Times said: “The sometimes patronising, frequently gushing praise of the inspiring Paralympians is a timely reminder to consider the many people with disabilities who face daily challenges greater than those on the world’s sporting stage…

“Those who admire, respect and are inspired by the magnificent feats of athletes with a disability might reflect on folk who show as much courage, determination and perseverance in their daily personal and professional lives”.

Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza lauded athletes’ desire to overcome obstacles for the sake of sporting success rather than material wealth, describing the event as “a miracle of authenticity”.

During the games, Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda said “Russians are not used to encountering disabled people in the street… Yet for the first time, they discovered a previously unknown sporting world and its courageous fighters”. Moscow famously refused to stage the Paralympic games in 1980.

Writing for the Australian newspaper, disabled journalist Melanie Reid marvelled at the unique sights of Paralympic events: “80,000 people falling silent so that a blind long-jumper can sprint into her darkness towards the sound of someone clapping.

“The sight of a young woman, her body frantic with cerebral palsy, achieving serenity on the back of a horse. The potency of men with no legs turned into gods by the menace of their running blades.”

She concluded that the games had somehow made disability “cool”.

Many newspapers, including Spain’s El Pais and Austria’s Der Standard, celebrated the unique spectacle of the Games with online photo galleries.

The man charged with delivering the 2016 games in Rio, Leonard Gryner, was quoted in a number of Brazilian newspapers noting the lessons of London 2012. He said “the priority given to the experience of the public, offering the best possible conditions, and structure and comfort they gave to athletes” had ensured that “everyone left happy”.

The O Globo newspaper carried an article on the partially constructued Maracana stadium, which will be the centrepiece of the Rio games. The paper said the stadium would set “new standards of comfort and visibility” and promised a “greater interaction between the public and their heroes” in 2016.

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