Pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport has said it is up to German public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF to make progress in discussions over sublicensing rights for the Olympic Games.
ZDF and ARD are currently in talks with media company Discovery Communications, Eurosport’s parent company, over a sublicensing deal for rights covering the Olympic Games in 2018 and 2020.
Reports have suggested that ARD and ZDF have refused to meet the asking price of €150m ($165.3m) covering the two editions of the Games and are ready to cut off talks with Discovery if the media company does not lower its asking price.
“After several months of negotiations I wonder about the fundamental reluctance of public broadcasters,” Eurosport’s head of international business, Jean-Briac Perrette, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. “There are growing doubts about their actual interest in Olympics coverage. The ball is in their court.”
Perrette said that if a sublicensing deal is not reached, Eurosport will provide coverage of the Games itself.