Olympics stay with viewers at large

THANKS to a rare victory for national and terrestrial broadcasters over the satellite channels in the battle for televised sport, RTE will retain the exclusive Irish rights for the Olympic Games up until the year 2008. A deal between the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which was confirmed in Lausanne yesterday means that RTE and the BBC, rather than Sky, will continue to broadcast the Games in Ireland and Britain until that time.

Under the terms of the agreement, the EBU will pay a total of £922 million for the exclusive European rights to both the summer and winter Games between the year 2000 and 2008 - £357 million less than a rival bid for the rights submitted by Rupert Murdoch's Sky television.

The IOC's decision to accept the EBU's significantly lower bid is a major boost for RTE which will now continue to enjoy the rights to one of the sporting world's most attractive television spectacles, albeit at a significantly higher price than it has paid in the past. There are still a lot of meetings planned to work out exactly who pays what, but the cost to RTE for the 2008 Games will be roughly double that for Atlanta this year when the EBU are due to pay 5230 million (£147 million) for the rights," said Tim O'Connor, head of RTE Television Sport, yesterday.

Broken down, the deal values the Sydney summer Games at £224 million, the 2004 Games at £252 million and the 2008 Games at £283 million. The increases for the rights for the Winter Games are even more dramatic with Salt Lake in the year 2002 now scheduled to cost the EBU £83 million compared to the £16 million paid for Lillehammer in 1994.

The amounts involved are, nevertheless, considerably lower than those offered by Sky in their main bid for the same period while a second offer from Murdoch's organisation for Sydney and Salt Lake City only was worth £416 million - £115 million more than agreed yesterday. "There are other factors involved though," says O'Connor, who feels that the IOC preferred the EBU option because "they have retained all of the marketing franchises and I think that those franchises, with the EBU as their partner, are going to be worth a lot more than with a subscriber channel. So the figures are not quite as clear as they appear to be.

"There is also a degree of doubt surrounding the future of subscriber television as it could easily become pay per view and, even if you write safeguards into the contract, stations like Sky Sports might have become greatly overshadowed by the likes of digital pay per view stations between now and 2008 which leaves room for a great deal of uncertainty," he says.

"The EBU have also traditionally supplied equipment and personnel at the Games and the IOC have had only good experiences with us so while I'm happy about the announcement I'm not that surprised, I think that it is the right decison all Around.

In a statement issued from Lausanne, meanwhile, the IOC said: "These decisions were taken based on the EBU's experience and expertise, and on the interest of the Olympic movement and all viewers in Europe (including eastern Europe), north Africa and the Middle, East.

"In addition to the extensive free coverage provided, EBU broadcasts are of high quality, especially in terms of production. Furthermore, the EBU has demonstrated an important contribution and commitment to the continued promotion of the Olympic movement and all Olympic sports."

This deal for European rights to the Games the latest in a succession of long-term agreements entered into by the IOC, with NBC recently securing exclusive rights during the same nine-year period for the United States for £2.25 billion and the Australian rights to the Games between 2002 and 2008 being sold to Seven Network Ltd for £90 million.

In each case the local Murdoch-owned station submitted rival bids but the IOC has decided that it preferred to deal with major terrestrial broadcasting organisations and has shown itself willing to sacrifice short-term financial gain in order to pursue that policy.

Representatives of the EBU entrusted with the task of negotiating with the IOC were clearly aware of this and of Murdoch's desire to make his rivals pay considerably more for events where he is unable to secure the rights for his own organisation.

With this in mind, O'Connor says that "we were determined not to match their bid and we structured it so that we would be offering considerably less in straight cash terms, but this was always going to be the correct decision for an organisation with the sort of philosophical outlook that the IOC has shown in the past. Even as it is, though, the IOC is laughing all the way to the bank."