Menu
Media

BBC Retains U.K. Olympic Broadcast Rights Through '20 Games

The BBC has “retained the broadcast rights to the Olympic Games until the end of the decade, encompassing the next two winter and two summer Games,” according to Owen Gibson of the GUARDIAN. The BBC's association with the Olympics “goes back to 1928, when it first broadcast its radio coverage.” It has shown “every Olympics since the Rome Games of 1960 live on television in an unbroken sequence.” Although the IOC “investigated the possibility of splitting the coverage between a free-to-air broadcaster and a pay-TV operation, as is the case in Italy, the BBC was desperate to retain its exclusivity.” After last year “cutting its sports rights budget by a fifth, the BBC renegotiated its Formula One deal to save money and now shares the rights with BSkyB.” It also has “withdrawn from horse racing and cut back on darts, tennis and snooker coverage.” But the Olympics, which the BBC “will broadcast across 26 channels from London this summer, is considered a prime vehicle to demonstrate the corporation's public service role in bringing large audiences together for major events” (GUARDIAN, 7/18). The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s Georg Szalai notes financial terms and other bidders “weren't disclosed, but the BBC was expected to face more competition from traditional and new media and technology players for the rights.” BBC COO Dominic Coles, who negotiated the deal, said, “It’s vital that big national and international events like the Olympic Games remain free-to-air where they can be watched by the greatest number of people" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 7/18).

THE GAME PLAN: The GUARDIAN’s Josh Halliday noted the BBC will “send 765 staff to cover the Olympic games in London,” and the amount is “an increase on the 493 people the broadcaster sent to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.” BBC Sport Head of Major Events Dave Gordon said, "I look on it as a reminder of how passionately the audience cares what the BBC does and the way we do it. We've a hard-earned reputation for doing the Olympics well." The BBC is “turning BBC1 and BBC3 into its flagship Olympics channels, with BBC1 showing wall-to-wall coverage of the games except for traditional news bulletins.” Gordon said that he was “confident the BBC would not face the kind of criticism it attracted for its coverage of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, but admitted the broadcaster will get nervous if Team GB's medal haul did not match expectations” (GUARDIAN, 7/17).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/07/18/Media/BBC.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/07/18/Media/BBC.aspx

CLOSE