The IOC sold its TV rights in China for the '14 Sochi and '16 Rio de Janeiro Games to CCTV for an estimated $160M, a sum that represents a more than 800% increase from what the broadcaster paid for the '06 Turin and '08 Beijing Games. The increase affirms the IOC’s decision in '09 to begin selling rights on a country-by-country basis across Asia. The move was designed to increase rights fees from individual countries like China, and it has succeeded in doing that. For the '06 and '08 Olympics, the IOC sold the rights to the Asian Broadcasting Union, a consortium of broadcasters from Japan, China and other markets, for a mere $17.5M. In '09, it sold the rights in China alone to CCTV for a reported $100M. The deal, which was announced Saturday, will see CCTV retain the Olympic rights across linear, cable, digital and mobile platforms. It also gets the rights to the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, in '14 and the Winter Youth Olympic Games in '16 in Lillehammer, Norway. In a statement, IOC Exec Board Finance & Committee Chair Richard Carrión, who led the negotiations, said, “CCTV has an unparalleled reach within China, and has promoted the Olympic Games, sport and the Olympic values to a Chinese audience for many years. We are delighted that we will be able to count on their support into the future.” The deal is the second one the IOC has announced around the London Games. The organization previously announced a nearly $100M rights deal with the BBC for '14-20 Olympics in the U.K. The IOC was paid $3.9B for the '10 Vancouver and London Games. It has secured $3.7B in TV rights sales for the Sochi and Rio Games, but it still has several territories to sell.
