Olympic Games

US network NBC has committed to complete live coverage of a winter Olympic Games for the first time, with the impact of social media cited as a key reason behind the move for next year’s event in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Consumer electronics company Samsung is planning to offer virtual-reality coverage of the 2018 winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.

Group Nine Media has struck a deal with Discovery Communications that will allow the digital media company’s NowThis service to act as a social video production and distribution provider for Eurosport’s Olympic Games coverage.

ITN Productions has been appointed as the host broadcaster for the International Association of Athletics Federations’ World Relays 2017 event.

The French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) has agreed a four-year partnership with public-service broadcaster France Télévisions.

Polish public-service broadcaster TVP has acquired rights for the 2018 and 2020 Olympics in a sublicensing deal with media and entertainment company Discovery Communications, which has also secured agreements for the Games in five other European markets.

Lithuanian free-to-air broadcaster TV3 has acquired rights for the 2018 and 2020 editions of the Olympic Games.
USA

US telecommunications company AT&T and its DirecTV satellite service provider and broadcaster have agreed carriage deals for the new cable television channel that will be launched under a partnership between media company NBCUniversal, the International Olympic Committee and United States Olympic Committee.
USA

The International Olympic Committee, United States Olympic Committee and US media company NBCUniversal have today (Thursday) unveiled a comprehensive Olympic Channel content and distribution partnership in the United States.

Eesti Meedia has acquired rights in Estonia for the 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games under a sublicensing deal with media and entertainment company Discovery Communications.

The International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Channel has entered into a partnership with US filmmaker Frank Marshall and sports content and media company Mandalay Sports Media that will result in the creation of a signature documentary series.

Olympic Broadcasting Services, the host broadcast organisation for all Olympic Games, is contesting a Brazilian police investigation that has accused it of negligence in the episode during Rio 2016 which saw an overhead camera crash to the ground, injuring eight people.

International sports broadcaster Eurosport has today (Monday) confirmed it will be the exclusive home of the Olympic Games in Germany from 2018 to 2024, beginning with the 2018 winter Games in Pyeongchang.

International media and entertainment company Discovery Communications has signed a sublicensing deal for Olympic Games rights with Belarus National State Broadcasting.

The Infront Sports & Media agency has praised its rights distribution for the Rio 2016 summer Olympic Games in the sub-Saharan Africa region as a success, after coverage was aired in a total of 46 territories.

Discovery Communications chief executive David Zaslav has said the US media and entertainment company is considering exploiting its Olympic rights in Europe for certain niche sports through a direct-to-consumer streaming service.

Olympic Broadcasting Services, the host broadcaster organisation for all Olympic Games, has been hit by a Brazilian court ruling accusing it of breaching labour laws during the summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

David Svenson, research analyst for SportBusiness Intelligence, examines television audiences in selected European markets for the 2016 Olympic Games.