The International Olympic Committee sold its TV rights in China for the '14 and '16 Olympics to CCTV for an estimated $160M, a sum that represents a more than 800% increase from what the broadcaster paid for the '06 and '08 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’s 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 $17.5M. In '09, it sold the rights in China alone to CCTV for a reported $100M. Sources familiar with CCTV’s deal for the '14 and '16 Olympics pegged it at $160M. The deal, announced on 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. IOC Executive Board member 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 and '12 Olympics. It has secured $3.7B in TV rights sales for the '14 and '16 Olympics, but it still has several territories to sell.
