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BBC wins Olympics race

LONDON-2012-OLYMPICS8

The BBC aired 2,500 hours of London 2012

The BBC has picked up exclusive free-to-air rights to the Olympics after forging an agreement with Discovery Communications.

The US factual giant acquired pan-European rights to the Summer and Winter Olympics in June for €1.3bn (US$1.45bn) and the UK pubcaster has now fought off competition from ITV to secure the events.

The BBC, which previously had a factual coproduction deal with Discovery, had already acquired rights to the Olympics in 2016, 2018 and 2020.

Now it has taken FTA rights, as well as selected radio and digital rights, to the 2022 Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics in 2024 while Discovery is sub-licensing exclusive pay-TV rights in the UK to the 2018 and 2020 Olympics from the BBC.

The Olympics is listed as a Category A event by UK media regulator Ofcom, which means at least 200 hours must be made available on FTA services. The BBC aired 2,500 hours of London 2012 coverage out of the 5,600 available to broadcasters.

Tony Hall, director-general of the BBC, said: “The BBC prides itself on bringing the biggest sporting moments to the public.

“While the BBC has had to take some tough financial decisions, this partnership underlines our commitment to making world-class sport available to all.”

David Zaslav, president and CEO of Discovery, added that the deal was “a win for UK sports fans and marks an exciting new chapter in Discovery and the BBC’s partnership on major sporting events.”

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