IAAF, FIFA Not Yet On Board for Olympic Channel

(ATR) The Olympic Channel has announced agreements with 27 international federations – but the IAAF, FIFA and six other IFs are yet to ink deals.

The IOC released a statement on Monday saying it had struck TV cooperation deals to collaborate on content for the Olympic Channel. The glaring omissions were the world athletics' and football bodies.

Of the 35 summer and winter Olympic sports, the world federations for cycling, handball, volleyball, biathlon, luge and skating have also yet to ink TV agreements with the Olympic Channel.

Negotiations with the IAAF to bring content from the No.1 Olympic sport only got off the ground earlier this year amid the corruption and doping scandals engulfing athletics’ governing body. Discussions with the federation are also complicated by existing commercial and rights agreements. The two parties need to hammer out a digital rights revenue deal.

Spokespersons for the IOC and Olympic Channel declined to say how advanced their negotiations are with the IAAF and when they hope to have all international Olympic federations on board.

"The Olympic Channel Services team has ongoing discussions with other IFs, including IAAF and FIFA, as well as with other recognized sports organizations," they said. "We hope to make further announcements in the coming weeks."

The Olympic Channel’s launch date announcement comes later this month. While it is unlikely to go live before the Rio Olympics in less than two months, IOC president Thomas Bach confirmed in a statement today that a 2016 launch was definitely planned.

"The international federations have embraced the Olympic Channel and we look forward to working with them on the exciting programming and promotional opportunities," he said. "The newly formed Olympic Channel team is making steady progress, with the emphasis on ensuring the product is right and the quality of the programming matches our ambition."

Mark Parkman, general manager of Olympic Channel Services, said the cooperation agreements with IFs was an important step towards the launch. "Content production has begun, the technology and platforms are being tested, and there is a growing sense of energy and excitement here among the Olympic Channel team as we prepare for launch this year," he said.

The channel will broadcast live sports events, news and athlete stories, as well as historical Olympic footage and official films from the IOC’s archives. There will be a major focus on educational and youth-oriented programming.

The Olympic Channel collaborations aim to complement the IFs’ current broadcast and distribution arrangements, with live event coverage, highlights, magazine shows, news coverage and original programming.

Olympic Channel Services team now consists of more than 60 full-time employees, representing 20 different nationalities.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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