BBC Olympics coverage misses events after loss of TV rights | BBC

The BBC has faced a series of complaints about the lack of live coverage of the Tokyo Olympics on its channels, after viewers failed to realize that the International Olympic Committee had sold the majority of UK television rights to the pay-TV company Discovery.

During the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics, the BBC was able to offer dozens of free live broadcasts from different sports, revolutionizing the way UK viewers watched matches and providing much needed publicity to events. niche who would not normally have enjoyed their moment in the public eye. .

This is no longer possible, however, after the organizers of the Olympics decided to sell the European television rights for the games to the American company Discovery in a £ 920million deal. Discovery in turn has put the vast majority of coverage behind a pay wall, accessible only through their Eurosport channels or on the new £ 6.99 per month streaming service Discovery +.

Although the deal with the BBC was announced in 2016, this is the first Summer Olympics it has come into effect, meaning that much of the UK public was unaware of the changes so far.

Under the agreement with the International Olympic Committee, Discovery is still required to make some of the coverage available on a free channel. Discovery decided to stick with the BBC for this item in the UK, in part to avoid a PR disaster, allowing the national broadcaster to purchase limited coverage.

Under this sublicense agreement, the BBC can broadcast a maximum of two live events at a time, via one TV channel and a second stream provided via the red button service and online. Everything else forces viewers to switch to Eurosport or Discovery +, which means a lot of sports just aren’t covered live by the BBC.

The situation is a glaring sign of the financial difficulties facing the BBC, which must combine the high expectations of UK audiences who want to watch free-to-air sports with the reality of a decade of real term funding imposed by the government. cuts. At the same time, the rise of paid streaming services, which increasingly bid for live sports broadcasting rights, means the BBC is increasingly unable to compete on budget when it s It is about bidding for sporting events.

Attempting to provide a live mix of various sports through a single TV channel – with some events being delayed – can produce an unsatisfying experience in the age of social media. Viewers watching taekwondo on BBC One on Sunday morning were disappointed to find the BBC Sport Twitter account announcing the winner as those watching the delayed TV coverage still had time to go.

In addition to its eponymous channel, Discovery owns stations such as Quest and Really and is a major investor in right-wing media GB News. Its complicated Olympics deal with the BBC meant the UK national broadcaster gave up some of its coverage rights to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in exchange for limited coverage of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

After 2024 there will be a new Olympic Games television rights agreement for Europe. At this point the BBC could face a competitive offer from other UK free channels such as ITV for the rights to broadcast highlights of the events.

A BBC spokesperson said they would continue to bring “all the must-see moments” to British audiences, while there would continue to be wide coverage on BBC Sport radio and website. But they confirmed that the era of free and widely accessible coverage of all Olympic sports is over. “The BBC is no longer able to offer live broadcasts of all sports during the Olympics due to the terms of the license agreements defined by the rights holder, Discovery,” they said.