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Discovery Communications has secured another sublicensing deal for its Olympic broadcast rights, this time with the Swiss Broadcasting Corp. (SRG SSR). The agreement, the ninth since Discovery got its hands on the Olympic rights across most of Europe, will give Swiss audiences access to live coverage of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games and 2020 Tokyo Summer Games. The public broadcasting association has agreed to sublicense exclusive free-to-air TV and non-exclusive radio rights for the two upcoming Olympics from Discovery. SRG SSR will use its TV and radio channels as well as its digital platforms to cover the competitions in German, French, Italian and Romansh language. The deal also includes rights for the broadcast of news-specific programs and select digital rights. In addition, pan-European sports network Eurosport, a division of Discovery, will maintain the rights to air all of the Olympics on pay-TV in the country, including through its on-demand platform Eurosport Player. Discovery did not reveal any financial terms of the deal. The partnership with SRG SSR follows deals in Austria (ORF), Croatia (HRT), Czech Republic (Ceska Televize), Finland (YLE), Hungary (MTVA), Ireland (RTE), Netherlands (NOS) and the U.K. (BBC). In June '15, Discovery obtained the exclusive multimedia rights for 50 countries and territories in Europe for the next four Olympic Games from '18-24 in a €1.3B ($1.4B) deal with the IOC.
GERMAN STALEMATE: This latest agreement will be welcome news for Discovery after
reports emerged last week that negotiations with German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF have stalled. Discovery is reportedly asking for €150M ($166.4M) for the rights, while ARD and ZDF are only willing to pay €100M ($111M). A spokesperson for Discovery declined to confirm the reports or the €50M ($55.4M) valuation gap between the organizations. "We do not comment on specific commercial negotiations and are surprised to see so much speculation in the press," the U.S. media company said in a statement. "We have been clear in our commitment to bring the Olympic Games to more people on more screens across Europe than ever before ... We are similarly committed to offering the very best Olympic Games experience to fans in Germany." Germany is Europe's largest broadcast market and therefore a priority for Discovery. In a
recent interview, ZDF Advertising Dir Hans-Joachim Strauch harshly criticized the IOC's decision to award the Olympic rights to Discovery, saying it "will hurt sports." While such comments are not expected to have a direct effect on the negotiations, it shows an unwillingness to compromise. ARD and ZDF previously could not come to terms with
Al Jazeera for the rights to the 2015 World Men's Handball Championship in Qatar. The rights eventually went to German pay-TV network Sky. The example shows that ARD and ZDF are not afraid to pass on top sporting rights if they believe the valuation is off. The Discovery spokesperson declined to provide SBD Global with an update on the negotiations, referring to the official statement. However, it is understood that both parties are continuing their discussions.