End of an era as EBU could lose Olympic broadcast rights

Hamburg - Olympic television broadcasts from 2014 onwards could be aired by private networks in Europe instead of the state-run stations which covered the Games for the last 50 years, a German television executive said on Wednesday. Dieter Gruschwitz, the head of sports at the ZDF state network, said that such a scenario was not out of the question after the International Olympic Committee rejected an offer from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for the 2014 and 2016 Games. 'It is theoretically possible that the Olympics leave for private TV, but the IOC should consider what the state networks have done over the past decades for the Olympics and the Olympic movement between the Games,' Gruschwitz said. There were also fears in other countries, with British daily The Guardian saying on Wednesday that 'the BBC could face a battle to hold on to live coverage of the Olympics after 2012.' It was announced late Tuesday that the IOC rejected an EBU pitch for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi and the 2016 Summer Games (host elected in October 2009) because the sum wasn't sufficient. No figures were disclosed, but the IOC appears to hope for up to 900 million euros (1.1 billion dollars) from the new rights sales. The EBU paid 443 million dollars (348 million euros) for the 2006 (Turin) and 2008 (Beijing) rights, and has spent 746 million dollars to secure the rights for Vancouver 2010 and London 2012. The IOC appears set to negotiate with networks from each country rather than making another deal with the EBU which represents more than 70 state networks in 56 states. It has already struck deals for 2014 and 2016 with private broadcasters in Italy and Turkey. The EBU networks have covered the Olympics since 1956 in Melbourne. 'We very much regret the decision of the IOC ... EBU members were surprised by the high financial expectations of the IOC,' said EBU president Fritz Pleitgen of Germany in a statement. But IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau spoke of a 'a fair and open bidding process giving all interested parties - broadcast unions, agencies and individual broadcasters, including EBU members - the opportunity to acquire 2014-2016 Olympic Games broadcast rights in Europe.' IOC vice president Thomas Bach told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Wednesday that the global economic crisis would be no factor in the sale of the rights, a view contrasting with statements from EBU officials. 'We want a fair price,' said Bach.