Olympic Channel Chiefs Ready for Talks with Federations

(ATR) Meetings with international sports federation leaders take place in Lausanne next month as Olympic Channel chiefs seek to shape innovative content for it.

An IOC spokesman tells Around the Rings that the Olympic Channel team continues to meet with stakeholders concerned with the delivery of the channel, which is set to launch next year. Meetings have already been held with rights-holding broadcasters, TOP partners, NOCs and some international federations.

He said a series of dedicated workshops with Olympic federation representatives have been scheduled throughout October to determine what content can be made available on the TV channel and on digital platforms.

"The IOC will work in close partnership with these stakeholders to deliver the Olympic Channel and make sure the channel is a success - and therefore these discussions will continue through to the channel launch and beyond," he said.

The IOC is hoping the Olympic Channel will drive interest in Olympic sports between editions of the Games, especially to the younger generation.

IAAF general secretary Essar Gabriel flagged up a potential problem in bringing live athletics, the number one Olympic sport, to the new TV channel.

Speaking to ATR, he said that the IAAF’s ability to offer elite-level live sport for the channel may not fit with the track and field governing body’s strategy. The main hurdle is that the IAAF has already sold and monetized the rights to its top events including the Diamond League series. He said the IAAF was also "satisfied" with its deal to live stream events on YouTube.

But Gabriel said there was plenty of other footage the IAAF could offer and content that could be created such as news reels and the federation was excited about the possibilities of growing interest in athletics through "digital aspects" of the Olympic Channel.

The IOC spokesman insisted the existing contractual arrangements of the IAAF and other federations were no major hurdle in the development of the Olympic Channel.

"Where there is the opportunity to do so, we will provide live and highlight coverage of sports events," he said.

"This coverage will always have an ‘Olympic’ thread or association in order to enhance value and relevancy for the channel.

"However, the overarching aim of the Olympic Channel is to complement and support the existing sports broadcast offering, including IF events.

"We aren’t in the business of competing for broadcast rights either for IF events that already have broadcast agreements, or indeed for the Olympic Games."

The IOC official indicated that there was a significant amount of untapped potential for the Olympic Channel to exploit: "There are still significant uncovered windows of distribution for almost all sports and events both geographically but also in terms of different media platforms, especially with respect to emerging sports disciplines.

"We will continue to work with our broadcast partners around the world to show live coverage of the Olympic Games and we believe they are best placed to offer tailored coverage for their local audience – and are very successful in doing this as demonstrated by record audiences around the world for recent Games."

The IOC’s Olympic Channel Commission led by U.S. IOC member and U.S. Olympic Committee president Larry Probst is set to hold its first meeting in November.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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