BeIN Sports has been awarded the exclusive broadcast rights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for the Olympic games between 2018 and 2024. The Qatar-based network reportedly paid over $150 m to secure the coverage of four games from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). “With its excellent track record in broadcasting, we believe that […]
BeIN Sports has been awarded the exclusive broadcast rights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for the Olympic games between 2018 and 2024.
The Qatar-based network reportedly paid over $150 m to secure the coverage of four games from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“With its excellent track record in broadcasting, we believe that it will provide fantastic coverage across the region of each edition of the Olympic Games, including free-to-air television coverage,” said Thomas Bach, president, IOC.
“BeIN Sports has also committed to providing unprecedented promotion of Olympic sports all year round, including significant support for the Olympic Channel in the future,” he added.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, beIN Media Group CEO, said: Although we have had the privilege to broadcast the Olympic Games for many years in MENA, our direct acquisition of the Olympics Games from the IOC fulfils our ambition of bringing all premium sports to our viewers in the region. We look forward to further growing our relationship with the IOC.
The deal covers all broadcast platforms, including free-to-air TV, pay-TV, Internet and mobile video.
The current MENA broadcast rights to the Olympics which include the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics and Sochi Winter Olympics are held by the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), after the organisation paid a reported $32 million to the IOC.
The Olympics’ governing body recently awarded the European broadcast rights for the Games between 2018 and 2024 to Discovery-owned Eurosport for $1.3 bn.
