Olympic Video games European Media Rights Go to EBU, Warner Bros. Discovery

Following a secret joint bid from Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the broadcasting rights for the subsequent Olympic Games cycle are set to be shared between the 2 media firms.

The brand new rights settlement covers the 2026-2032 interval, which incorporates the 2026 winter video games in Italy and the 2028 summer time video games in L.A. It doesn’t embody the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The information comes following uneven free-to-air protection of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 (which passed off in 2021 as a result of COVID-19 pandemic) after Discovery Communications, as the corporate was nonetheless referred to as pre-merger, bought the European rights to the video games for its community EuroSport for €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion).

The Discovery deal gave the corporate unique rights to broadcast the Olympics (each winter and summer time) throughout 50 European territories though the Worldwide Olympics Committee (IOC), which owns the video games, assured 200 hours of free-to-air protection for the summer time video games.

This nonetheless left European public service broadcasters – who’re collectively represented by the EBU – out within the chilly, leading to a lot disapprobation amongst European followers in the summertime of 2021 as they struggled to observe the Tokyo video games. Within the U.Ok., the BBC acquired plenty of complaints about its protection as a result of it couldn’t present livestreams of each sport.

Given the uproar – and Discovery’s Warner merger which has resulted in intense cost-cutting – it now seems WBD and EBU quietly launched a joint bid to amass media rights from the IOC for 49 European territories.

The brand new deal will see EBU members ship free-to-air protection throughout Europe on tv and digital platforms.

“We’re delighted to have reached a long-term settlement with two of the world’s main media firms,” stated IOC president Thomas Bach. “The EBU and its members present unparalleled broadcast experience and attain throughout Europe, and Warner Bros. Discovery, by way of the current mixture of Warner Media and Discovery, represents one of many world’s largest media and leisure firms throughout all programming genres and platforms. It demonstrates the continued attraction of the Olympic Video games throughout Europe. Because the IOC redistributes 90 per cent of the revenues it generates, this long-term settlement additionally supplies crucial monetary stability to the broader sporting motion and in the end helps the athletes themselves.”