The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi will be televised by a number of broadcasters throughout the world. As with previous years, Olympic Broadcasting Services will produce the world feed provided to local broadcasters for use in their coverage. In most regions, broadcast rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympics were packaged together, but some broadcasters obtained rights to further games as well, while in Australia, the 2014 Games were offered individually after all three major networks were unable to reach a deal for both.
In the United States, the 2014 Winter Olympics were the first in a US$4.38 billion contract with NBC Sports, extending its broadcast rights to the Olympic Games through 2020 (with broadcast rights to Sochi valued at US$775 million alone). As it did during the 2012 Summer Olympics (which brought strong viewership, and ultimately turned a profit of $88 million, unlike the previous Winter Olympics, which resulted in a loss of US$223 million), NBC offered live and tape-delayed coverage of events on television across its free-to-air network and a number of pay TV channels, and provided streaming of all events online and on mobile platforms to those who subscribe to the channels. [1] ESPN and Fox Sports made competing bids for 2014 and 2016 Games only, but were outbid by NBC. [2]
In Europe, sports marketing agency Sportfive replaced the European Broadcasting Union as the sales agency of broadcast rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympics in 40 European countries. [3] The IOC still separately negotiated broadcast rights in larger European countries such as the United Kingdom, where after uncertainty over whether rights to the Games could be picked up by a pay television broadcaster such as Sky Sports (but shared with a free-to-air broadcaster to comply with the laws forbidding certain major sporting events from being exclusively broadcast on pay channels), the BBC announced prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics that it would maintain exclusive rights to the Games through 2020. [4] [5]
In Australia, after several major commercial networks (among the only entities which can hold the rights due to similar anti-siphoning laws) pulled out of bidding on rights to both the 2014 and 2016 Games due to cost concerns (which included Nine Network, who had lost AUD$22 million on its joint coverage of the 2012 Games with Foxtel, and Seven Network, whose bid was rejected for being lower than what Nine/Foxtel paid), the IOC awarded broadcast rights to the 2014 Winter Olympics to Network Ten for AUD$20 million; a fraction of the amount paid by Nine and Foxtel for their own coverage. [6] [7] [8]
In Canada, where the 2010 and 2012 Games were broadcast by a consortium of Bell Media and Rogers Media properties, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced in August 2012 that it had acquired the Canadian broadcast rights to the 2014 and 2016 Games, returning the Olympics to CBC Television and Ici Radio-Canada Télé for the first time since 2008. While financial details were not announced, the CBC did state that it was a "financially and fiscally responsible bid", which would carry on the organization's 60-year history of Olympic broadcasting. [9] The CBC sub-licensed pay TV rights to TSN and Sportsnet (who served as the primary channels for pay TV coverage during the previous arrangement) in English, along with Réseau des sports and TVA Sports in French. [10] [11] [12]
IMG acquired the rights for in-flight and in-ship markets. [13]
Notes
The International Olympic Committee is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss Civil Code. Founded by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas in 1894, it is the authority responsible for organising the modern Olympic Games.
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games are considered the world's foremost sports competition with more than 200 nations participating. The Olympic Games are normally held every four years, and since 1994, has alternated between the Summer and Winter Olympics every two years during the four-year period.
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Sochi 2014, was an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening rounds in certain events were held on 6 February 2014, the day before the opening ceremony.
The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as PyeongChang 2018, were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, with the opening rounds for certain events held on 8 February, a day before the opening ceremony.
The 2016 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events in some sports beginning on 3 August. Rio de Janeiro was announced as the host city at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009.
The 2014 Winter Paralympics, the 11th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, were an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), held in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia from 7 to 16 March 2014. 45 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) participated in the Games, which marked the first time Russia ever hosted the Paralympics. The Games featured 72 medal events in five sports, and saw the debut of snowboarding at the Winter Paralympics.
Russia, officially known as the Russian Federation, has competed at the modern Olympic Games on many occasions, but as different nations in its history. As the Russian Empire, the nation first competed at the 1900 Games, and returned again in 1908 and 1912. After the Russian revolution in 1917, and the subsequent establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922, it would be thirty years until Russian athletes once again competed at the Olympics, as the Soviet Union at the 1952 Summer Olympics. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia competed as part of the Unified Team in 1992, and finally returned once again as Russia at the 1994 Winter Olympics.
The 2024 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 26 July to 11 August 2024 with Paris as its main host city and 16 cities spread across Metropolitan France and one at Overseas France as subsites.
The broadcasts of Summer and Winter Olympic Games produced by Seven Sport is televised on the Seven Network in Australia.
The broadcasts of Summer and Winter Olympic Games produced by CBC Sports is shown on CBC Television and heard on CBC's radio networks in Canada. CBC was the broadcaster of the 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 Olympics.
Russia competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, from 7 to 23 February 2014 as the host nation. As host, Russia participated in all 15 sports, with a team consisting of 232 athletes. It is Russia's largest Winter Olympics team to date.
UEFA Euro 2016 was a football tournament that took place in June and July 2016 involving 24 men's national teams from nations affiliated to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The tournament was broadcast via television and radio all over the world, with the rights divided between various nations and wider territories.
There were many controversies and concerns affecting the 2014 Winter Olympics. There were disputes with Circassians, who demanded the events be cancelled or moved unless Russia apologized for the 19th century Circassian genocide, environmental and economic issues, lack of political stability and governance, and the safety and human rights of LGBT athletes and journalists, in light of Russia's "gay propaganda" laws, which sparked Olympic-focused protests. However, all of these events were overshadowed by the massive Russian state-sponsored doping program uncovered in the aftermath of the Games.
FIFA, through several companies, sold the broadcasting rights for the 2018 FIFA World Cup to the following broadcasters.
The Olympic Games have been broadcast on Australian television since 1956, coinciding with both the introduction of television in Australia as well as the first year Australia hosted an Olympics. All three commercial networks have broadcast the Summer Olympics or Winter Olympics at least once, as have both public broadcasters and the dominant subscription television platform Foxtel, often sharing broadcasting rights with another network.