The International Olympic Committee’s talks for a media rights deal in the UK for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics remain deadlocked as public-service broadcaster the BBC, the favourite to acquire the rights, refuses to meet the governing body’s valuation.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the BBC values the rights at around the £64m (€76m/$100m) it paid for the London 2012 Olympics broadcast rights. The BBC is in the process of cutting its annual budget by 15 per cent by 2017 due to a government-imposed licence fee freeze.
However, IOC vice-president Thomas Bach said the body was “very relaxed” about the situation. “It is true that the UK is the only European country still remaining (to do a deal with) but we are very relaxed,” he said. “We are not in any hurry.”
An Olympic source told the newspaper that the IOC would wait for the right time to agree a UK broadcast deal, “and that time could be just before the Games, or maybe even after” when the profile of the Olympics would be at an all-time high in the country.
The BBC previously acquired rights for the Olympics through the European Broadcasting Union, but the IOC has been negotiating directly with the UK as well as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey – where deals have already been agreed – for the 2014-16 cycle. The Sportfive agency is selling rights for the 2014-16 Olympics in 40 other smaller European markets.