UK commercial broadcaster ITV will bid to acquire rights for the Olympic Games in 2022 and 2024 in a sublicensing deal with international media and entertainment company Discovery Communications.
ITV chief executive Adam Crozier said that the broadcaster would lodge a bid for the rights with Discovery, which operates pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport.
ITV will challenge the BBC for the rights, with the latter’s director general, Tony Hall, confirming that the UK public-service broadcaster will bid. The BBC has rights for the Games through to the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
“We have got the Olympics, we did a fantastic job in 2012 and we will do a great job next year. We will bid too,” Hall said.
Under Discovery’s deal for the Games across Europe, the company has committed to broadcasting a minimum of 200 hours of the summer Olympics and 100 hours of the winter Games on free-to-air television.
David Abraham, the chief executive of UK commercial broadcaster Channel 4, said that his company would not bid for the rights.