BBC Sport signs Olympics deal through to 2020 Games

The BBC has announced that it has signed a deal with the International Olympics Committee (IOC) for the rights to cover the next four Olympic Games. The deal will include exclusive TV, radio and digital rights for Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018 as well as the 2020 Games.

Mark Thompson, Director-General, BBC said, “I’m delighted that the Olympic Games will continue to be broadcast exclusively on the BBC into the 2020s. It’s terrific news in the days before BBC Sport begins to cover the London 2012 Games and a tribute to the enduring partnership between the BBC and the Olympic movement.”

Barbara Slater, Director, BBC Sport, said “This news will come as a massive boost to our teams who are about to undertake our most ambitious sports broadcast ever at the biggest sporting event in our country’s history.”

Rio 2016 and the 2020 Olympics will represent the 16th and 17th Summer Olympic Games broadcast by the BBC, a sequence that began with the 1948 Games in London and one that has run unbroken since the 1960 Games in Rome, Italy.

At the London 2012 Olympic Games, for the first time, the BBC will be providing live coverage of every Olympic Sport from every venue throughout the day. This will amount to around 2,500 hours of live Olympic sporting action, over 1,000 hours more than during Beijing 2008.