Broadcasters, IOC talk past each other

Michael Hedges January 28, 2009 Follow on Twitter

The war of words continues to escalate between public broadcasters and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). German broadcaster ARD is the most recent public broadcaster to vent frustration at rights fees it says it cannot stomach. The IOC says the broadcasters’ complaint is tantamount to blackmail. Both side seem to be talking past each other.

The IOC has “completely exaggerated the value of the broadcast rights,” said ARD Program Director Volker Herres to Handelsblatt (January 26). The result, he said, could be less Olympic games coverage. The IOC rejected a rights bid from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) on behalf of Europe’s public broadcasters for the 2014 Winter Games and 2016 Summer Games. ARD participated in that rejected bid.    

The IOC didn’t simply reject the EBU offer; it rejected the long held practice of a pan-European rights bid, preferring competitive – and significantly higher - bids from each country; a “strategic mistake,” said Herres. The EBU successfully negotiated broadcast rights for public broadcasters covering the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and 2012 London Summer Games for €672 million. Estimates of the EBU’s bid for the 2014 and 2016 Games, not officially revealed, is thought to have been less than 10% more than the previous bid. The IOC’s expectations, on the other hand, are thought to be nearer to €900 million, getting ever closer to rights fees paid by US broadcaster NBC.

"If we lose the television rights to the 2014 and 2016 Games, we would review our commitment for each sport,” said Herres. The 2014 Winter Games will be held in Sochi, Russia while the venue for the 2016 Summer Games is yet to be announced.

"The IOC sees that we, together with ZDF, continuously report on Olympic sports - even between the Summer and Winter Games,” he continued. ZDF is the second German public television network.

In contrast to public broadcasters, commercial broadcasters, said Herres taking the high-road, will not offer complete coverage. “Unlike us, the private sector would concentrate only on highlights.” The IOC awarded Italian rights to Sky Italia and Turkish rights to Fox Turkey, both part of News Corporation, for the 2014 and 2016 Games and would like other countries to follow suit. Turkey's public broadcaster TRT said, in response, it would scale back sports coverage, perhaps closing its all-sports channel. The possibility exists for Premiere, also part of News Corporation, to make a similar bid for German rights. Both TRT and Italian public broadcaster RAI are EBU members.

The IOC typically ignores sore losers, seeing the Olympic Games from a different perspective. It is, of course, the money that matters. ARD, however, is arguably second only to the BBC in European television clout.

"The IOC is not receptive to such extortion attempts,” said IOC vice president Thomas Bach to dpa (January 27). “I do not believe in negotiations in the media.”

The IOC has a perception problem, exacerbated significantly by the antics surrounding the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. Viewers and sports fans tune in to see athletes from their countries compete. Local heros count for much of the interest, even in minor sports.

Take handball, for example. The Germany – Denmark match, shown on RTL (January 27), was a ratings hit, pulling a 35.2% share. That interest does not simply spring forth each four years. Local coverage, season after season, counts. And national broadcasters with commitments to that kind of continuous coverage do, indeed, hold the upper hand in maintaining the enthusiasm that endows on the Olympic Games significant cultural as well as commercial value.