IOC Issues Online Audio, Video Restrictions To Non-Rights-Holders

By Tripp Mickle, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

IOC Restrictions Make NBC Single Source For Digital Video From Beijing Olympics

The IOC yesterday issued sweeping restrictions to non-rights-holding media, forbidding them from distributing online audio or video of sporting action, interviews with athletes or Opening or Closing ceremonies. The rules represent an increase in restrictions from the '06 Turin Games when non-rights holders were allowed to use the Internet to broadcast press conferences -- a practice that will be forbidden in '08. In explaining the new restrictions, the IOC said, "The dissemination of moving images of the Games, including the Internet, is a part of the IOC's intellectual property rights, the granting of which ... helps provide the funding necessary to stage the Games and train the athletes." The restrictions make NBC the single source for digital video of not only events but also athlete interviews from Olympic areas throughout the Games, curtailing any original video offered by other sites like ESPN.com and Yahoo Sports.

COMES AFTER NBC RESTRICTIONS: The news comes on the heels of restrictions issued by NBC Sports on audio and video distribution online from the U.S. Olympic Trials. Credentialing rules issued by the network through several NGBs require that all audio and video files from the trials contain a link back to nbcolympics.com. The rules also heavily restrict all forms of multimedia in and around the fields of play, including athlete interviews, and require that all audio and video be removed from media sites by August 7, the day before the start of the Beijing Games. The rules will affect news coverage at three of the summer's biggest trials: swimming, gymnastics and track and field.