ITV will compete with the BBC to broadcast the Olympics after the corporation "lost control" of the rights to U.S. broadcaster Discovery, according to John Plunkett of the London GUARDIAN. ITV CEO Adam Crozier said that the broadcaster would "bid to sub-license the rights from Discovery," which paid £920M ($1.4B) in an exclusive pan-European deal in June. BBC Dir General Tony Hall said that the corporation, "the traditional home of the Olympics" -- that will broadcast the Games until '20 -- would also bid for the Games, which "have to be shown" on free-to-air TV in the U.K. But Channel 4 CEO David Abraham said that his channel "would not be in the running, focusing on the Paralympics, the rights to which it first picked up at London 2012." The corporation has poured "huge resources and set great store by its Olympics coverage as one of the moments when it is able to bring the nation together" (GUARDIAN, 9/18). BROADCAST NOW reported ITV warned the BBC it has "massively underestimated the task of creating BBC Studios." Crozier called on the BBC to prove how its proposals for commercializing its production arm "will work in practice" but insisted ITV was not against "fair competition." He said, "Candidly, we find it hard to see how BBC Studios can compete without some sort cross-subsidy from public money. We haven't seen how they can solve the issues that we have raised." Crozier also revealed ITV "would not be lobbying for change in the upcoming review of the terms of trade." He said, "We're perfectly happy with the terms of trade and don't see any need for them to be revisited." Crozier "also stressed that he does not believe that ITV will fall under foreign ownership in the next five years." Amid suggestions that Discovery and Liberty Global may be keen to acquire ITV, Crozier joked, "Who knows in time, we may be interested in buying Discovery" (BROADCAST NOW, 9/18).
