The Chinese authorities have banned round-the-clock broadcasts from Tiananmen Square during the Olympics.

Beijing Games organisers yesterday cited fears of overcrowding as they told international broadcasters that they could set up live positions only between 6am and 10am and 9pm and 11pm local time because of competing demands for the world's largest urban square from tourists, heads of state and other VIPs.

The restrictions mean that the BBC's stock-in-trade live interview with its correspondent will be missing from primetime news programmes. The windows of permitted broadcasts exclude the 6 O'Clock News and News at Ten. BBC chiefs are said to be fuming after two years of “frustrating” negotiations with Chinese Olympic organisers resulted in a watered-down deal that limits the movement of broadcasters around Beijing.

Executives from NBC, which paid $800million (£400million) for the US rights to the Games, have complained of excessive bureaucracy that requires scores of permits for a single satellite vehicle. The BBC paid millions of pounds for its share of rights and is sending more staff than to any previous Games.

Sources said that the demands of Beijing officials would stifle coverage of the Olympics, which are being called the “Killjoy Games” because of over-zealous policing. About 100,000 anti-terrorism officers will be deployed during the 16-day event. Communist Party officials are sensitive about Tiananmen Square being used as a backdrop by Western broadcasters after the 1989 student protests in which hundreds of people were killed by troops.

Under the host city agreement with the International Olympic Committee, Beijing must allow unfettered access for foreign media. Chinese officials, who have argued that protests outside the sports venues should not concern broadcasters, face accusations of a wilful breach of this contract.