2022 WINTER OLYMPICS: IOC, CCTV in $550 million TV deal

The International Olympic Committee
(IOC) has exploited China’s likely
status as host of the 2022 Winter
Olympics and Paralympic Games to
agree a bumper new broadcasting deal
with China Central Television (CCTV).
The state broadcaster has been
awarded exclusive rights to screen the
next four Games after Rio 2016 in the
world’s most populous nation, in a
deal believed to be worth some $550
million (£350 million/€450,000).
This is more than double the sum
agreed for the same rights covering
the four Games from Vancouver 2010
to Rio 2016, and reflects Asia’s
monopoly of Olympic hosting rights
between 2018 and 2022.
With the 2018 Games earmarked for
Pyeongchang, South Korea, 2020 going
to Tokyo and 2022 set for either
Beijing or Almaty, Kazakhstan, the IOC
will be hoping for similarly substantial
increases in other Asian markets.
The new deal represents a scarcely
believable leap from the $17.5 million
(£11 million/€14 million) paid by the
Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union for
the TV rights (excluding new media)
covering most of Asia, including
China, for the last Chinese Olympics in
Beijing in 2008.
Even so, $550 million works out at
only around $0.40 (£0.25/€0.32) per
head of Chinese population for all four
Games, compared with the
approximately $3.80 (£2.40/€3.10)per
capita paid by NBC Universal for the
right to air Rio 2016 on US soil.
CCTV have been long-time
broadcasters of the Olympics but will
pay much more for the privilege as
part of the new $550 million deal.
Thomas Bach, the IOC President, said
he was “delighted that we will
continue to work with our longstanding
broadcast partner CCTV.
“They have demonstrated many times
their ability to bring first class
coverage of the Olympic Games to
hundreds of millions of Chinese
people.
“The revenue the IOC has secured
from this agreement will be
redistributed to support future
organisers of the Olympic Games, as
well as supporting sport and athletes
in China and around the world.”
Hu Zhanfan, CCTV’s President,
described the deal as a “win-win
agreement”.
CCTV was, he said, “determined to be,
as always, a powerful and exceptional
partner of the IOC”.
Zaiqing Yu, Chinese IOC vice-
president, said CCTV was a “strong
supporter of the Olympic values”,
adding: “We look forward to continuing
our partnership through to 2024.”
CCTV has acquired the rights across
all broadcast platforms in all
languages; the deal also includes the
right to broadcast all editions of the
Youth Olympic Games until 2024.