This is a timeline of the history of athletics on television in the UK.
1930s to 1970s
1980s 1981 29 March – BBC1 airs highlights of the first London Marathon under the International Athletics strand.
1982 29 March – The BBC covers the Great North Run for the first time, providing live coverage of the start and the end of the race.BBC Genome Project - BBC1 listings 27 June 1982 However it didn't cover the event again until the mid 1990s.
1983 7–14 August – The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 show the first World Athletics Championships.
1984 13 May – The BBC broadcasts full live coverage of the London Marathon for the first time although it had shown some live coverage of the 1982 and 1983 events.
1985 ITV takes over as broadcaster of UK athletics meetings. It also begins to cover European meetings in addition to the major international athletics events. Some of the coverage is shown on Channel 4, especially for midweek European meetings whereby Channel 4 shows the second hour of coverage.
1986 26-31 August – Channel 4, in conjunction with ITV, shows coverage of the 1986 European Athletics Championships. This has been the only time that Channel 4 has broadcast coverage of this event.
1987 28 August-6 September – ITV shows the World Athletics Championships for the second and final time. Some coverage is also shown on Channel 4, which does not show the event again until 2011.
1989 February – Eurosport launches and its output includes extensive coverage of European athletics meetings.
1990s 1990 27 August-2 September – ITV broadcasts a major athletics championships for the final time when it broadcasts the 1990 European Athletics Championships. Coverage is restricted to a late-evening highlights package although ITV does show the final day's events live.
1991 23 August-1 September – Eurosport broadcasts the World Athletics Championships for the first time. Terrestrial coverage is now shown exclusively by the BBC, which broadcasts morning-long coverage of the evening events.
1993 13–22 August – For the first time, UK viewers are able to see full live coverage of the morning events of the World Athletics Championships. albeit only on Eurosport although the BBC does broadcast some morning live coverage.
1994 7–14 August – Eurosport provides UK viewers with live coverage of the morning events from the European Athletics Championships for the first time as again the BBC only covered the evening events live and in full.
1996 ITV shows athletics for the final time. It had been reducing its coverage of the sport since the start of the 1990s.
1997 Channel 4 takes over as broadcaster of domestic athletics. It also shows the 1998 UK athletics season. 1–10 August – For the first time, the BBC provides full live morning coverage of the morning events of the World Athletics Championships.
1998 18–23 August – For the first time, the BBC provides full live morning coverage of the morning events of the European Athletics Championships.
1999 May – Domestic athletics returns to the BBC after more than a decade.
2000s
2010s 2010 12–14 March – ESPN broadcasts the 2010 World Indoor Athletic Championships.
2011 Channel 5 broadcasts the Great Birmingham Run and Great South Run for the first time.Great Birmingham / South Run 2014 live on Channel 5 27 August-4 September – Channel 4 shows live coverage of the 2011 World Championships in Athletics but due to the broadcaster's decision to focus on Paralympic Sports, Channel 4 decides not to show the 2013 event even though it had bought the rights to the 2013 championships.
2012 9–11 March – Channel 4 shows live coverage of the 2012 World Indoor Athletic Championships.IAAF World Indoor Championships 2012 – Live on Channel 4
2013 20–28 July – The World Para Athletics Championships are broadcast on UK television for the first time when Channel 4's sister channel More4 broadcasts over five hours of live coverage daily throughout the Championship. More4 also broadcasts the 2015 Championships. 10–18 August – Coverage of the World Athletics Championships returns to the BBC.
2014 7–9 March – The IAAF World Indoor Championships return to the BBC, having been with other broadcasters for the past few events.IAAF World Indoor Championships 2014 live on BBC & Eurosport 19–23 August – The IPC European Athletics Championships 2014 are broadcast on UK television for the first time when Channel 4's sister channel More4 screens full live coverage of the event.IPC European Athletics Championships 2014 live on More4
2017 14–23 July – Channel 4 broadcasts full live coverage of the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships with the previous producer of Channel 4's athletics coverage, Sunset + Vine, being host broadcaster for the championships.
2018 14–15 July – Sky Sports broadcasts live coverage of the inaugural Athletics World Cup.Sky Sports to screen inaugural Athletics World Cup
2020s 2021 29 January-24 February – The BBC shows the 2021 World Athletics Indoor Tour.BBC to show World Athletics Indoor Tour events 23 May – Live coverage of the Diamond League returns to the BBC following an agreement which will see the athletics series broadcast live on the BBC for the next four years. The deal began with the first of 14 meetings in the 2021 series on 23 May, with coverage available across BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio and BBC Red Button.
References