The International Olympic Committee plans to launch its new Olympic channel in April 2016, just months before the summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Olympic Broadcasting Services chief executive Yiannis Exarchos gave an update on the channel at the SportAccord Convention, stating that a team of almost 100 people is being hired to be based in Madrid to produce programmes and features on Olympic athletes and sports to accompany footage of past Games.
Exarchos said there would be a strong focus on original programming to ensure the new initiative is not just a platform for Olympic re-reruns. Of the launch timeline, he added: “It's a pretty aggressive and optimistic plan but we live in the Olympic world.”
The IOC in December commenced work on the channel with Dick Ebersol, former chairman of the NBC Sports Group division of US media company NBCUniversal, brought on board as a special adviser for the project. The IOC earlier backed the launch of an Olympic channel as president Thomas Bach secured almost total support for his ‘Agenda 2020’ measures at the 127th IOC Session in Monaco.
The IOC has said the channel – to be run by the Madrid-based OBS – will cost €490m ($600m) to operate over its first seven years, with the goal of breaking even in the first decade. It will initially be a worldwide digital offering; however as linear television distribution opportunities arise, these will also be assessed.
The channel was in the news on Monday as SportAccord president Marius Vizer singled it out for criticism as part of his strongly-worded attack on the IOC and Bach. Vizer claimed the project lacked a clear business plan.