Nine Entertainment Co appears to be the winner of the TV rights for the next three Olympics Summer Games. However, at the time of writing there was yet official word from the IOC or Nine about the awarding of the rights to Australia.
The Nine bid is reported to have included TV coverage of the Paris 2024 (above), Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 summer games.
Both The Sydney Morning Herald and Nine’s Wide World of Sports have published stories about Nine’s rights victory.
The SMH headline reported: Nine takes Olympics TV rights from Seven as cricket mulls its future in a story published on Friday afternoon.
Early on Saturday Nine’s WWOS sport published an item online that reported:
Nine Network secures landmark Olympics broadcast deal for next three Games. The Nine Network has secured the broadcast rights for the next three summer Olympics – including Brisbane in 2032 – from incumbent Channel Seven.
However, the Wide World of Sports item was later taken down.
A Nine spokesperson told Mediaweek on Christmas Eve there was no announcement imminent “at this point” about any Olympic deal.
Nine has obligations to shareholders about any major announcement that could impact the share price while the IOC is also involved in sharing rights deal news with the sporting world. There was no word out of the IOC about a new deal with Nine at the end of the week.
Seven used to be the Olympic network.
The Sydney Morning Herald feature, which remains online at the time of writing, reported:
Nine offered more than $300 million for the next three summer games and the winter events during that period – a figure significantly above Seven, according to sources familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations are confidential.
Seven West Media made its offer for the next round of rights last August and was refusing to increase the dollar figure, which sources said is between $230 and $250 million.
Nine’s deal presumably includes full digital rights meaning Stan Sport will carry some of the Olympic events behind a paywall.
Both the 2012 London summer games and the 2016 Rio summer games were partly behind a paywall on Foxtel and then Seven respectively.
Nine could find itself as Australia’s premier TV sporting destination if it is also able to secure part of the cricket rights currently being auctioned. An announcement is expected soon with Nine tipped to be the home of at least FTA coverage of Test cricket and international limited-over matches.