US media and entertainment company Discovery Communications has sealed its latest sublicensing deal for Olympic Games rights in Europe through an agreement with Czech public-service broadcaster Ceska Televize.
The deal will make the 2018 winter Olympics and the 2020 summer Games available to Czech viewers on both CT Sport and sports broadcaster Eurosport.
As part of the agreement, CT will sublicense from Discovery free-to-air audio visual rights for one channel, for PyeongChang 2018 and Tokyo 2020, continuing the public broadcaster’s run of broadcasting the Olympics since 1956.
Additionally, CT’s sublicensing package includes digital rights to the content it broadcasts on its linear television channel. Eurosport also has rights to air all of the Olympic Games action on pay-television and through its digital platforms. Furthermore, CT has agreed to promote the live events airing on Eurosport and not covered by CT.
Finnish public-service broadcaster YLE last month became the third company to strike a deal to sublicense rights to the 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games from Discovery. The news came after Discovery’s agreement with the International Olympic Committee in June 2015, through which it secured exclusive multimedia rights across 50 countries and territories in Europe for the 2018-2024 Olympic Games cycle.
The YLE contract followed similar deals Discovery has struck with public-service broadcasters the BBC and NOS in the UK and the Netherlands, respectively.