Olympic officials, "concerned about an aging television audience for the games," are working on a channel "aimed at young people," according to Duff & Rossingh of BLOOMBERG NEWS. The channel "will focus on athletes." Olympic Broadcast Services CEO Yiannis Exarchos said, “The personalities of athletes, their lifestyles, are something very, very attractive.” He added that the channel’s programs "might be 'edgier' than would be expected from the IOC." In '94, IOC President Thomas Bach "originally suggested a channel," but the then-IOC junior officer "was largely ignored." Horizon Media data shows that the median age of U.S. viewers for the '14 Sochi Games "was 55, compared to 48 "during the '02 event in Salt Lake City. Exarchos said that the channel "will hire about 100 production and technical staff and be broadcast from Madrid, where Olympic Broadcasting Services is based." The IOC said that it "may break even within a decade." Sports federations said that they "like the idea but want more information about how it will help them." United World Wrestling Dir of Commercial Operations & Communications Gordon Templeman said, "How much are they going to push it? We’re trying to find a formula where we can increase exposure of our sport in between games" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 2/25).
