Olympic Channel on start line

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is launching a 24-hour OTT Olympic Channel in 2016 following its recent pan-European rights deal with Discovery Communications.

ITV will challenge the BBC to air the Games in the UK

The Olympic Channel will be set up in Madrid and will roll out globally, showing a mixture of live sports, back stories of athletes and background information.

It will employ around 120 staff, IOC president Thomas Bach revealed to the German media.

The news follows Discovery-owned Eurosport’s recent purchase of rights to the summer and winter games between 2018 and 2024 in a pan-European deal worth €1.3bn (US$1.45bn).

Eurosport promised to make a minimum 200 hours of the summer action available free-to-air (in addition to 100 hours of the Winter Olympics), in accordance with the Games’ listed status in many European nations.

In the UK, ITV will compete with the BBC to broadcast the Games in the UK after the pubcaster lost exclusive rights to Discovery.