Chinese public-service broadcaster CCTV has retained the rights for the next two editions of the Olympic Games in a deal to run from 2014-16.
Under the agreement, CCTV will show the 2014 winter Games in Sochi and the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, as well as the 2014 summer Youth Olympics, which will take place in the Chinese city of Nanjing, and the 2016 winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer.
According to the Associated Press news agency, CCTV will pay $160 million (€131 million) for the rights – a 60-per-cent increase on the rights fee of $100 million that the state-owned broadcaster paid for the cycle including the 2010 winter Games in Vancouver and the 2012 summer Olympics in London.
International Olympic Committee executive board member Richard Carrión, who led the negotiations for the governing body, said: “CCTV has an unparalleled reach within China, and has promoted the Olympic Games, sport and the Olympic values to a Chinese audience for many years.”
CCTV has broadcast each summer Olympics since the 1960 Games in Rome.