Barely two months old and yet almost mature. The Olympic channel, officially launched on the web on the last evening of the Rio 2016 Games, Sunday August 21, has already almost filled up with customers. Its progenitor and patron, the IOC, announced on Tuesday October 25 the arrival in the catalog of six new international federations. The UCI (cycling), ISU (skating) and FIL (luge) have joined the peloton, as well as three of the new Olympic sports, invited to the Tokyo 2020 Games: baseball/softball (WBSC), karate ( WKF) and climbing (IFSC).
Less than three months after its birth, the Olympic channel can boast of having signed agreements with 33 international Olympic federations. The last six arrivals joined a contingent of 27 organizations already involved in the multimedia project. Clarification: the agreements in question do not involve a single dollar, contrary to the rule of the genre. The international federations grant the rights to their events free of charge to the Olympic channel.
The picture is not yet completely complete. To complete its shopping, the channel must purchase the rights of FIFA (football), the IAAF (athletics), the FIVB (volleyball), the IHF (handball), and finally the 'ISA (surfing). For this last sport, also invited to join the Games in Tokyo 2020, the approach seems to be only a formality, as evidenced by the recent broadcast on the channel of the Junior World Surfing Championships.
Volleyball and handball should also, logically, fall into line. For the IAAF, the matter promises to be more delicate. The rights to major athletics events, in particular the outdoor World Championships, are negotiated at a high price. The International Federation may be hesitant when it comes to handing over its distribution on the Internet to a digital platform with open, free and global access. In the case of football (FIFA), the task looks like a mission impossible.
According to a press release from the Olympic channel, broadcast agreements should not be limited to international federations only. Discussions are underway to welcome athletes, national Olympic committees, but also rights holders, TOP partners, Games organizers and even, a delicate subject, the bidding committees.
There is no shortage of resources. The Olympic channel announces that it has a budget of 490 million euros for its first seven years. It quickly obtained the support of two so-called “founding” partners, the American Bridgestone and the Japanese Toyota. She recruited a team of 91 people, between Madrid, OBS headquarters, and Lausanne. At the Rio Games, a team of reporters produced more than 1.700 multimedia contents. Agreements have been concluded with audiovisual production companies in 17 countries.
Since its launch, the Olympic Channel has broadcast on the Internet images of a very respectable series of international events, including the World Cup finals in canoe-kayak slalom, archery, shooting, equestrian and triathlon, as well as as the 3x3 basketball world championships.
