NBC-Universal wins rights to next four Olympics

NBC-Universal acquired U.S. broadcast rights for the XXII Winter Olympic Games at Sochi and the XXXI Summer Games at Rio De Janerio as well as the 2018 and 2020 Games yet to be awarded.

In a bid against ESPN and Fox, NBC acquired free to air television, subscription television, internet and mobile rights at a listed bid of $4.38 billion. NBC has broadcast every Olympic Games over the last 20 years.

There has been no announcement as to how NBC-Universal intends to cover the Games, but there is plenty of speculation. NBC is now owned by Comcast Cable which also owns the cable channel Versus. It seems logical that Versus would be central in coverage plans, especially considering NBC’s replacement for the departed denizen of Olympic television Dick Ebersol was Mark Lazarus – formerly of Turner Networks – who joined the company shortly after Comcast obtained the network and was charged with running its cable sports properties.

According to an International Olympic Committee (IOC) press release its decision was based “on a long-term broadcast strategy aimed at ensuring broadcast of the Olympic Games of the highest quality, maximizing exposure across all available media platforms, and securing the financial future of the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement.”

“We had an obligation to pick the best bid on behalf of the entire Olympic Movement,” said IOC Executive Board member Richard Carrión, who, along with IOC President Jacques Rogge, led the negotiations. “We assessed each bid against a thorough set of criteria and believe that the long-term nature of this agreement will not only ensure fantastic Olympic broadcast coverage in the U.S., but also support the long-term financial stability of the Olympic Movement as a whole. NBCU has proven its worth time and again over the years and we’re very excited to continue working with them.”

“We are delighted to have reached an agreement with our longstanding partner NBC-U,” said Rogge. “We received three excellent bids and would like to thank each broadcaster for their presentations. In the end we were most impressed with NBC-U, which not only has a track record for broadcasting the Games that speaks for itself, but also has a clear and innovative vision of where it wants to take the broadcast of the Games between now and 2020. We look forward to continuing to build on our already strong relationship beginning in London next year.”

The IOC based its decision on a long-term broadcast strategy aimed at ensuring broadcast of the Olympic Games of the highest quality, maximizing exposure across all available media platforms, and securing the financial future of the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement.

“We had an obligation to pick the best bid on behalf of the entire Olympic Movement,” said IOC Executive Board member Richard Carrión, who, along with IOC President Jacques Rogge, led the negotiations. “We assessed each bid against a thorough set of criteria and believe that the long-term nature of this agreement will not only ensure fantastic Olympic broadcast coverage in the US, but also support the long-term financial stability of the Olympic Movement as a whole. NBC-U has proven its worth time and again over the years and we’re very excited to continue working with them.”

The IOC has enjoyed a long partnership with NBC-U, and this agreement will mean that by 2020, NBC-U will have covered a total of 17 editions of the Games, beginning in 1964.

Comcast CEO and Chairman Brian Roberts said, “We are honored to continue as the U.S. Olympic broadcaster for the remainder of this decade. The vision for our new Comcast-NBCUniversal was to create new platforms and technologies to distribute the very best content. Every two years the Olympic Games provides iconic content for us to deliver on all platforms. We are proud to continue the rich heritage and long association that NBC has had with the IOC and I personally want to thank President Rogge and Richard Carrión for their long-term trust.”

The decision came after two days of meetings held at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, during which ESPN, Fox and NBC-U each gave a presentation and submitted their proposals to the IOC. The negotiation process started earlier this year with preliminary discussions conducted with all interested parties. Each proposal was discussed by an IOC delegation chaired by President Rogge.

U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Larry Probst said, “I’d like to thank all three networks for the incredible effort that went into their presentations. Each was compelling and would no doubt successfully communicate the importance and excitement of the Olympic Games. However, the combination of NBC-Universal’s vision for presenting the Games and their significant commitment of resources to the Olympic Movement made them the winner. I’d like to congratulate the entire team at NBC-Universal for their winning bid and thank them for their continued support and partnership. We look forward to working closely with NBC-Universal and Comcast in the years to come.”