SKY Takes Olympic Broadcast Rights for NZ & Pacific Islands

LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded SKY Network Television the broadcast rights for the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014 and the XXXI 2016 Summer Games for New Zealand and Pacific Island territories.

SKY's deal covers New Zealand, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Independent State of Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The pact is for the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, and the Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016.

Thomas Bach, IOC's president, said: “The IOC is delighted to have reached this agreement with SKY. With 13 medals, the New Zealand Olympic team enjoyed one of its strongest ever performances at London 2012. We look forward to working with SKY to ensure that fans in the region will enjoy fantastic broadcast coverage of their athletes competing in Sochi and Rio.”
  


Richard Carrión, IOC's finance commission chairman who led the negotiations, said, “We worked very successfully with SKY for the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games, and therefore are pleased that we are able to continue our partnership. SKY will deliver extensive coverage on its platforms in New Zealand, including free-to-air coverage, whilst also ensuring that coverage is available in neighbouring territories in the Pacific Islands.”

Richard Last, SKY’s director of sport, commented: “It’s massively rewarding to announce SKY Sport will be screening the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. Our customers love watching worldwide sporting events and it doesn’t get any bigger than the Olympics.”