CCTV Secures 2018-2024 Olympic Broadcast Rights in China

LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded CCTV the exclusive broadcast rights in China for the XXIII Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang in 2018, and the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo in 2020, as well as the Olympic Games in 2022 and 2024.

China’s state broadcaster acquired the rights across all broadcast platforms, including free-to-air television, pay TV, Internet and mobile phone in all languages. The agreement also includes the right to broadcast all editions of the Youth Olympic Games until 2024. The IOC has an existing agreement with CCTV to broadcast the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

IOC President Thomas Bach said: “On behalf of the IOC I am delighted that we will continue to work with our longstanding broadcast partner CCTV. They have demonstrated many times their ability to bring first class coverage of the Olympic Games to hundreds of millions of Chinese people. The revenue the IOC has secured from this agreement will be redistributed to support future organizers of the Olympic Games, as well as supporting sport and athletes in China and around the world.”

Hu Zhanfan, the president of CCTV, said: “This is a win-win agreement. CCTV has been contributing enormously for the recognition and promotion of the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement in China and we are determined to be, as always, a powerful and exceptional partner of the IOC.”

IOC VP Zaiqing Yu, a member of the IOC’s TV Rights and New Media Commission, said: “CCTV is a strong supporter of the Olympic values and we look forward to continuing our partnership through to 2024.”