STAR India Picks Up Rights For Sochi, Rio Games For Seven Asian Countries

The IOC has awarded the Olympic broadcast rights for seven countries in South Asia to STAR India for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and the 2014 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China. STAR India acquired the rights to all media platforms, including free-to-air TV, subscription TV, Internet and mobile, in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (IOC). REUTER's Karolos Grohmann reported the IOC "has broken new ground in recent years, directly negotiating broadcast rights for some markets instead of selling the rights for all territories on a continent to one umbrella broadcasting institution." There were "no financial details of the deal available." Broadcast rights revenues "are the IOC's biggest source of income" and will top $4B for the period '13-16 (REUTERS, 7/31).