IOC to Provide Online Channel During Games

LAUSANNE, August 4: The International Olympic Committee
(IOC) will launch an online channel on YouTube to broadcast clips from the
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in 77 territories across Africa, Asia and the Middle
East.

The Olympic Broadcasting
Service (OBS)—a subsidiary of the IOC—will produce regularly
updated Olympic content, including highlights, news and daily clips of
competitions for broadcast as VOD available on YouTube starting August 6.

The IOC’s channel will be
accessible in territories where digital VOD rights have not been sold or have
been acquired on a non-exclusive basis. These territories include Malaysia,
Bangladesh, Cambodia, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Korea, Singapore,
India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and
Zimbabwe.

Online broadcast coverage
was made available in a few territories for Athens 2004 and in 23 territories
for the Turin Olympics. The Beijing 2008 Games mark the first time that digital
media coverage will be freely available across the world, provided by
rights-holding broadcasters and the IOC’s channel.

Timo Lumme, the IOC’s
director of television and marketing services, said: “The IOC’s priority is to
ensure that as many people as possible get to experience the magic of the
Olympic Games and the inspirational sporting achievements of the Olympic
athletes. For the first time in Olympic history we will have complete global
online coverage, and the IOC will have its own broadcast channel and content
production facilities. The IOC’s channel will make fantastic Olympic footage available
where young generations of sports fans are already going for online
entertainment, and will complement the footage offered in these territories by
our broadcast partners across all media platforms.”

—By Jackie Stewart