ABU Makes Olympic Games Plea to IOC

TEHRAN, November 5: The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union has
called on the International Olympic Council (IOC) to give priority to free-TV
broadcasters when licensing the rights to the Olympic Games.

The statement, named the Tehran Declaration on Media
Coverage of the Olympic Games, was adopted at the 44th ABU General Assembly,
which took place over the weekend in Tehran.

The Declaration also calls on the IOC to ensure that the
free-to-air broadcast rights to the Olympic Games are sold directly to
free-to-air broadcasting organizations in the ABU region. The ABU is also
urging Asia-Pacific governments to enact laws to ensure that the Olympic Games
are kept on free-to-air television for viewing by the general public. The ABU
negotiates broadcast rights on behalf of its members via a sports pool.

“The ABU will continue to fight for the rights of the
free-to-air broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region to get priority in
broadcasting major sporting events,” stated Genichi Hashimoto, the president of
the ABU and of Japanese pubcaster NHK.

At the General Assembly this week, the ABU also elected two
new VPs: Manuel Goncalves of Teledifusao de Macau (TDM) and Dr Hasan Khojasteh
of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. The other VP of the ABU is Abdul
Rahman Hamid, the director-general of Radio Television Malaysia. In addition,
the Korean Broadcasting System, RTHK-Hong Kong and IRIB-Iran were re-elected to
the ABU Administrative Council, the decision-making body of the broadcasting
union. Bhutan Broadcasting Service was elected to the council for the first
time.

—By Mansha Daswani