The IOC had planned to sell a package of rights covering the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, but IOC executive board member Richard Carrion revealed in an interview with the Associated Press that a broader tender could be considered.
Carrion said that NBC, ESPN and Fox, along with a potential CBS-Turner collaboration, had approached the IOC about the option to cover four Games, which would increase the total rights fee to more than $4 billion.
“We realise this is a major decision going forward for any of these guys,” said Carrion, who is responsible for the US broadcast rights negotiations. “We want to make sure that they come with their best and highest (bids). I would certainly support it if they want to go to four Games, and do all the way to 2020.”
The IOC has delayed the start of the US rights negotiations for more than a year because of unfavourable economic conditions and a slump in the advertising market. However, Carrion said that he expects the IOC to press ahead with the tender in the first half of 2011.
Broadcast rights fees provide the bulk of the IOC's revenues, with the US share accounting for more than half of the total. Back in 2003, NBC paid around $2 billion for the rights to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
