Olympic officials had previously said that they would finalise new broadcast agreements in the US as early as this year but IOC President Jacques Rogge has now predicted that the deals will not be signed until 2005.
Rogge stated: "It's stupid to negotiate in a recession. We'll wait for the economy to revive before signing any rights agreements."
US network NBC owns the Olympic television rights for both Summer and Winter Games until 2008 and had been favourite to land any new deal despite its much criticised delayed coverage of the Sydney Olympics in 2000. However, Rogge also stated that the bidding process would be more open in future, "to make it fair to the competition".
While the IOC will doubtless be looking to increase their rights fees by delaying any agreement, such stalling tactics will not necessarily bring increased revenue as many analysts believe that the rights market has hit a ceiling.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said that it may delay the bidding for the US television rights to the 2012 Winter Olympics due to the downturn in the American economy.
