Canadian public-service broadcaster the CBC has acquired rights for the 2022 and 2024 Olympic Games in partnership with telecommunications companies Rogers Communications and Bell Media.
The agreement with the International Olympic Committee announced today (Wednesday) means CBC will serve as Canada's Olympic network and official broadcaster for the next five Olympic Games including Rio 2016, PyeongChang 2018 and Tokyo 2020. The new additions to the contract are the winter Games in Beijing in 2022, and the summer Olympics in 2024, the hosting rights to which are yet to be assigned.
CBC will also be a broadcast partner, from 2016 until at least 2023, for the IOC's new global digital platform. The public broadcaster will provide Canadian sports content to support the Olympic Channel’s focus on the Olympic Movement between Games.
As lead broadcaster, CBC will be working again with its primary Olympic broadcast partner, Bell Media along with Rogers Media.
Hubert Lacroix, president and chief executive of CBC/Radio-Canada, said: “The broadcast partnership model we've put forward is respectful of the stature of the Games, fiscally responsible, and perfectly aligned with CBC/Radio-Canada's current strategic plan. These partnerships show the public broadcaster can play a role in bringing together the larger broadcast community in the interest of the Canadian audience.”
Bell’s TSN and RDS pay-television channels, along with Rogers’ Sportsnet pay-television channel will offer secondary coverage of the Olympics. With this partnership, TSN and RDS will have first selection on all Olympic events ahead of all other sub-licensees.