USOC Chair Larry Probst yesterday was appointed Chair of a "new panel that will oversee the launch" of the IOC's Olympic TV channel, according to Stephen Wilson of the AP. The creation of the Olympic Channel Commission and the appointment of Probst to head the 16-member panel was "part of a shake-up announced by IOC President Thomas Bach in his various commissions." Bach also announced the "creation of a new Communications Commission and made changes to several of the existing bodies that guide the work" of the IOC. The moves "grow out of Bach's 'Olympic 2020 Agenda' reform program." The digital channel, "projected to cost" about $600M over the first seven years, is "scheduled to be launched next April, a few months before" the '16 Rio de Janeiro Games. It will be a "mix of sports programming, Olympic archive footage, news and other material." Probst's position as "head of the world's biggest Olympic committee and the USOC's ties with long-time Olympic network NBC were likely crucial to the appointment." The panel also "includes a second U.S. IOC member," Anita DeFrantz, and two Russians -- Alexander Zhukov and Alisher Usmanov. Bach announced that he "will serve" as Chair of the channel's 12-person BOD. Kuwait's Sheikh Ahmad and another U.S. IOC member, Angela Ruggiero, "are also on the board" (AP, 5/31).
