German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF "might not be able to transmit the Olympic Games in 2018 and 2020," according to Jörn Krieger of BROADBAND TV NEWS. Manager Magazin reported the negotiations with Discovery regarding the German TV rights have stalled, "with reference to involved parties from both sides." The public broadcasters’ representatives "would now even threaten to terminate the negotiations if the opposite side doesn’t move from its position by summer." Discovery asked for €150M ($169M) for the two events, according to the report, but ARD and ZDF "were only prepared to pay" up to €100M ($113M). Discovery "now evaluates scenarios how to exploit the rights without participation of ARD and ZDF" (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 6/21).
INFRONT SEALS THE DEAL: Infront Sports & Media sealed media rights agreements in eight additional territories for broadcast coverage of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Nigeria, Kenya, Angola, Mozambique, Congo and Ivory Coast. Infront is supported operationally by France-based int'l sports event TV and organization agency TV Media Sport. Nigeria will be provided programming with national public broadcaster NTA, private broadcaster AIT, Silverbird and HipTV. In Kenya, the agreement is with national broadcaster Kenya Broadcasting Corp. and in Angola, national broadcaster TPA covers the event (Infront).
