Olympic sports have
been dealt a series of blows in recent weeks, from doping allegations
surrounding Alberto Salazar’s athletes to heated debates over the eligibility of
competitors representing Britain, but today’s news of Eurosport’s Olympic rights
in is likely to hit the games the hardest.
Let me be clear, I
have nothing against Eurosport: they show the events that other channels daren’t,
they don’t cut away from the live action for needless punditry and their
commentators are far more knowledgeable and dedicated to sport than most BBC
staff. Despite this, the channel is not best suited to be the main broadcaster
for the world’s largest sport event given it only attracts about 5% of the TV
audience compared to 72% for BBC One.
Due to Government
regulations, this deal does not mean Eurosport will hold exclusive rights over
the 2022 and 2024 Games, and 200 hours must be shared with a free-to-air
broadcaster. However this amount is minimal compared to the BBC’s London 2012
coverage, and we are open to adverts from commercial channels such as ITV and
Channel 4 that could pick up the rights instead of the BBC.
Then we have to
worry about the cost at which Eurosport will sub-license the television rights,
which could paralyse the eventual free-to-air broadcaster into a position of
poor quality coverage or minimal broadcast hours.
I for one can
guarantee that the BBC is at least partly responsible for my love of the
Olympics; from Newsround reports to Blue Peter pieces, I always knew to be
excited about the Five Rings.
And that’s before I
mention the BBC’s extensive coverage of the Beijing games in 2008 that
captivated the imagination of a 10 year old version of myself and fuelled a
passion for sport. It fills me with regret to think that so many children will
be deprived of inspiring experiences like mine simply because the main rights
holder isn’t a free-to-air channel.
Imagine the
consequences of that. Fewer children taking up sports, a smaller talent pool, fewer
Olympic medalists, reduction of funding for athletes. It is a chilling
thought.
To say this was a
short-sighted decision by the IOC would be an understatement. They are risking
the exposure of the games on an entire continent for the sake of €1.3bn to fill
their coffers. Now we are just left to hope that Europsort are generous to the
BBC and that a replica deal will not be made in future. In the mean time, let’s
just enjoy the Beeb’s Olympic coverage for as long as we can.
