International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has appointed a close adviser to a key position in the nascent Olympic Channel.
Jochen Färber, currently head of Bach’s executive office, will become head of the Swiss division of the Olympic Channel, a $600 million digital endeavor that’s scheduled to go live in April.
In his role, Färber will be charged with coordinating between the Swiss office of the channel, at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, and the Spanish TV channel operations, which is run out of the Olympic Broadcasting Services division in Madrid. He also will serve as a liaison between the channel and the rest of the IOC.
Prior to joining Bach shortly after he was elected in 2013, Färber managed Germany’s Olympic Training Center for fencing (Bach won a gold medal for Germany in fencing in 1976). Färber founded and ran his own public relations agency for more than a decade, and also ran communications for the Munich bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Many key details about the Olympic Channel’s programming, distribution and leadership are still under discussion. Further executive appointments are in the works, an IOC spokesman said.
The IOC hopes a permanent digital video presence will help expand Olympic sports’ reach to younger viewers and during lulls between major events. It’s not expected to have a linear TV distribution when it launches.
In May, Bach appointed U.S. Olympic Committee Chair Larry Probst to lead a commission overseeing the channel.
ach himself is president of the Swiss division’s board of directors, and Dick Ebersol, former chairman of NBC Sports and Olympics, sits on the board overseeing the Spanish operating unit.
