Mark Thompson, the outgoing director general of UK public-service broadcaster the BBC, appears to be “closing in on a deal” to secure rights for future editions of the Olympic Games despite “reservations” from the International Olympic Committee, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Lord Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust, the UK public-service broadcaster’s independent governing body, told the newspaper: “Mark is leading those talks and they are happening right now. They [the Olympics] are really important to us.”
The IOC is currently tendering UK rights covering at least the next two editions of the Games, in 2014 and 2016. Bidders can also make offers for the rights for the 2018 and 2020 Games.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said last month that “everything is possible” when it comes to selling the UK rights and raised the prospect that the BBC could be challenged for the rights by pay-television broadcasters and agencies.
The UK is the one remaining major television market in Europe where the IOC has not yet struck a rights deal beyond the London 2012 Olympic Games.