Paris 2024 Media updates

[BigVic]

No thread for media updates so I'll start it off 

Nine Entertainment Company (Nine) is to be awarded the rights to the Paris 2024 Olympics in an 5 game cycle for 8 years including Milan-Cortina 2026, LA 2028, TBD 2030 and of course, Brisbane 2032 according to The Age over longtime broadcaster Seven which aired every Olympics from Rio 2016 to Beijing 2022.

Nine last aired the Olympics in Australia 10 years ago for London 2012 shared with Foxtel as well as the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. 

 

Nine takes Olympics TV rights from Seven

 

Quote

Nine Entertainment Co has won the race for rights to air the next wave of Olympic Games events, including Brisbane 2032, after submitting a higher bid than incumbent broadcaster Seven West Media.

International Olympic Committee officials visited Australia earlier this year and are set to finalise an agreement for rights with a local television network in the coming weeks. Nine offered more than $300 million for the next three summer games and the winter events during that period - a figure significantly above Seven, according to sources familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations are confidential.

The sources said two bids were submitted before the deadline on Wednesday evening.

 

The next round of rights will include the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.CREDIT:AP

Seven West Media made its offer for the next round of rights last August, and was refusing to increase the dollar figure, which sources said is between $230 and $250 million. Seven was informed late on Friday that it was the unsuccessful bidder, with Nine chosen as the preferred partner. Both offers are below the expected value IOC had been hoping to receive - $400 million. The new IOC deal does not include the Paralympics, which is sold in a separate rights package that is yet to be negotiated.

 

Seven and Nine declined to comment. The IOC was approached for comment. Nine owns a range of television, radio, streaming and publishing assets, including this masthead.

The IOC’s bid deadline passed at a key juncture for the Australian television industry. Cricket Australia is finalising its broadcast arrangements, with Paramount currently considered the frontrunner. A deal before Christmas is now considered unlikely.

Olympic Games are usually a loss-making event for a television network. In 2017, Seven wrote down the value of the games by $70 million (the original deal was reported to be worth $200 million). And, despite it breaking audience records in 2021, the Tokyo 2020 Games still led to a $50 million loss for the network. Production costs about $150 million. Seven told staff on Friday evening that it had pulled out of the race because the economics of a deal did not stack up.

 

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games broke ratings records for Channel Seven. But the company still made a loss.CREDIT:AP

IOC officials spent two days in Sydney last month meeting with the country’s largest commercial television networks about broadcasting the next group of events which includes the Paris 2024 Olympics, the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics and the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane, as well as the Winter Olympic Games over this period.

 

Seven and Nine were joint broadcasters of the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, which was the first to be televised in Australia. Since then, Seven has been the preeminent broadcaster, televising events in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s.

Seven briefly lost the rights from 2010 to 2014 to rival broadcasters Nine, Network Ten (now owned by Paramount) and Foxtel before signing a deal from 2016 to 2020. It is unclear if Ten’s owner Paramount ended up submitting a bid. Paramount sources previously said they weren’t interested in securing a long-term deal given the media market is constantly changing and audiences are increasingly watching sports content online.

RELATED ARTICLE

 

Media & marketing

Olympic bosses fly in to negotiate Games broadcast deal

The IOC was the last major sporting body to try and secure a lucrative broadcast deal from this market in the current cycle and the arrival of its key broadcast executives coincided with negotiations between Cricket Australia and broadcasters about its new deal.

Paramount and Network 10 were in the box seat to win CA’s media rights auction because they have offered the largest sum of money, but multiple media and cricket sources have said CA is hesitant to leave incumbent partner Foxtel, whose parent company News Corp owns The Australian, The Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph.

 

Seven and Foxtel have so far been unable to match Paramount’s $1.5 billion offer for rights to Test matches, one-day internationals, T20s, the Big Bash League and the Women’s Big Bash League. And with most media executives now on holidays, it is unlikely a deal will be done before Christmas.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday Nine had held talks with Foxtel about a potential tie-up, but any deal between the two companies is highly unlikely. The main reason for this is Nine’s bid for the cricket was not solely for free-to-air rights to Tests - it included games for its streaming service Stan, which competes with Foxtel for subscribers.

Upcoming deals with CA and the IOC are complicated by several other highly lucrative agreements, including Nine’s extended agreement with Tennis Australia for more than $400 million, and Seven and Foxtel’s historic $4.5 billion AFL deal in September.

HBO owner WarnerMedia is also in the market weighing up what to do with its content, which includes hit shows such as House of Dragon, Succession and White Lotus. Its existing deal with Foxtel expires next year.

 

[Victorian]

Great news

[Durban Sandshark]

Too much going on at my front that's gradually receeding. But this is major news from down under. I'm surprised Seven would put forth even more of a fight, especially with Brisbane right after Los Angeles. Well, at least all three of the major Australian commercial TV networks would have a turn broadcasting with a US-based Summer Olympics 1984 onward (TEN-1984, Seven-1996, Nine--2028). No doubt streaming will play an important role with this. No longer for the forseeable future will we see the Seven Network act as "Australia's Olympic Network".  

[BigVic]

Seven boasted themselves as "Home of the Olympics" for Tokyo and Beijing 

[SportLightning]

Yep. Seven has done broadcast for the Olympics before with Sydney 2000 as well.

[Sir Rols]

I’m not thrilled by Nine getting it, just find their approach too shallow. The saving grace, I suppose, is that in the age of mul,tistreaming, I tend to go more to the various dedicated sports streams rather than rely on the main broadcast.

And, hopefully, if I am indeed in Paris, my prob will only be to find the local streams in English.

[Quaker2001]

https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2023/01/14/nbc-olympics-logo-2024-paris-games/

[SportLightning]

39 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2023/01/14/nbc-olympics-logo-2024-paris-games/

Oh. Okay. I didn't expect that. I thought it was gonna be my design, but this one that was launched with the help from celebrity Paris Hilton was the choice. It is kind of inspired by French Art Nouveau letterforms. But that's a good design. It's not much like the NBC Tokyo 2020 logo.

[Sir Rols]

18 hours ago, Quaker2001 said:

https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2023/01/14/nbc-olympics-logo-2024-paris-games/

Tres chic, tres classified!

17 hours ago, SportLightning said:

 I thought it was gonna be my design,

Unfortunately, non! But you can help someone achieve their logo design dreams by voting in the GamesBids Logo Comp. Just click HERE and tick a box!

[Sir Rols]

ROTFLMAO! I hadn’t seen this… it’s funny. Love it!

 

 

[fusilli]

^^ Nbc, seriously? 

[FYI]

I actually thought it's kinda clever. I mean, what better way to promote an Olympics than to have someone full of themselves be in the ad. lol

[Quaker2001]

6 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

ROTFLMAO! I hadn’t seen this… it’s funny. Love it!

I guess someone didn't click on the link I posted.  That was part of the campaign, for her to debut the logo.

2 hours ago, fusilli said:

^^ Nbc, seriously? 

27 minutes ago, FYI said:

I actually thought it's kinda clever. I mean, what better way to promote an Olympics than to have someone full of themselves be in the ad. lol

Yup, seriously.  And sure, why not.  We're 18 months out from the games.  Who knows if they'll use her in more promos or if this is just a one shot deal.  Either way, good to see NBC looking ahead now that we're nearly a year removed from all the negatives of Tokyo and Beijing.  And thank goodness for a city like Paris to come next to give them a nice long runway to what hopefully is an Olympics largely free of controversy.  Easier said than done, but those have been few and far between lately, so it would be a refreshing change

[Quaker2001]

Meanwhile, actual media news out of Europe and more specific to the UK..

The Olympic Games to remain on the BBC for the next decade

IOC awards exclusive 2026-2032 Olympic Games media rights in Europe to European Broadcasting Union and Warner Bros. Discovery

[FYI]

6 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

I guess someone didn't click on the link I posted.  That was part of the campaign, for her to debut the logo.

7 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

And thank goodness for a city like Paris to come next to give them a nice long runway to what hopefully is an Olympics largely free of controversy.  Easier said than done, but those have been few and far between lately, so it would be a refreshing change

IKR! I'm really, really hoping for a spectacular Paris 2024 (looking more forward to it than LA'28), especially after the let down of Tokyo 2020ne, & to a lesser extent, Beijing 2022 (for circumstances totally beyond their control). At this point of the lead-time for Tokyo 2020, I was SO excited, & then that damn virus had to show up. So I'm hoping for no more major disappointments in the immediate Olympic world. Even though, some are already talking of boycotts of Paris 2024 if the Russkies are let back in, but let's indeed have a refreshing change after the last few years. I know some around here, though, would still be cynical to such an aspect. lol

[ulu]

  

7 hours ago, FYI said:

IKR! I'm really, really hoping for a spectacular Paris 2024 (looking more forward to it than LA'28), especially after the let down of Tokyo 2020ne, & to a lesser extent, Beijing 2022 (for circumstances totally beyond their control). At this point of the lead-time for Tokyo 2020, I was SO excited, & then that damn virus had to show up. So I'm hoping for no more major disappointments in the immediate Olympic world. Even though, some are already talking of boycotts of Paris 2024 if the Russkies are let back in, but let's indeed have a refreshing change after the last few years. I know some around here, though, would still be cynical to such an aspect. lol

Does anyone seriously think western countries would boycott an Olympics hosted by a western ally? That'd be a disaster for relations with France so you'd have to think they're bluffing with this boycott talk.

[FYI]

2 hours ago, ulu said:

  

Does anyone seriously think western countries would boycott an Olympics hosted by a western ally? That'd be a disaster for relations with France so you'd have to think they're bluffing with this boycott talk.

Well, one would hope so. I’m just mentioned what some out there are thrusting around. 
 

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1132213/paris-2024-boycott

[Quaker2001]

10 hours ago, FYI said:

IKR! I'm really, really hoping for a spectacular Paris 2024 (looking more forward to it than LA'28), especially after the let down of Tokyo 2020ne, & to a lesser extent, Beijing 2022 (for circumstances totally beyond their control). At this point of the lead-time for Tokyo 2020, I was SO excited, & then that damn virus had to show up. So I'm hoping for no more major disappointments in the immediate Olympic world. Even though, some are already talking of boycotts of Paris 2024 if the Russkies are let back in, but let's indeed have a refreshing change after the last few years. I know some around here, though, would still be cynical to such an aspect. lol

It's all but impossible for there not to be some controversies in the lead up to an Olympics.  And the media will do what the media does and focus on the negatives.  Can't imagine those boycotts will materialize, but there's a long ways to go

[Durban Sandshark]

Back to the Paris Hilton/NBC Paris 2024 connection. I thought it was clever and silly in a fun way. Surely she was a good, fun sport about doing this. Actually, I had the sneaky feeling there was going to be something like this tie-in. Kinda nice to make that connection between the two famous Parises: both known for love, glamour, light, and (especially in Hilton's case for some people) lust and sometimes full of themselves. Looking forward to see if more will arrive starring her and how funny it would be for her introducing the Olympic sports and/or the ceremonies. BTW, she just gave birth to a child.

It's interesting Eurosport's every moment exclusive is exempt with the Central European nations Germany, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Hungary. Any reasons why? Guessing on the free-to-air side, it will be shared with a EBU public broadcasting member and Discovery-owned channels. 

[BigVic]

Confirmed for Nine already as I posted it as the OP just before Christmas last year. Like CBC, Nine has broadcast and radio rights but in Canada paid coverage is on TSN and Sportsnet. 

Official press release 

Quote

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has today announced that Nine Entertainment Co. (Nine) has been awarded the exclusive free and subscription audio-visual rights, and non-exclusive audio rights to the Summer and Winter Olympic Games from 2024-2032.

• Nine partners with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to bring the Olympic Games to Australian audiences over the next decade
• Partnership to deliver every moment of the next 5 Games, including Brisbane 2032, through broadcast and streaming in audio and video, across all of Nine’s platforms
• Exclusive ten year deal provides unrivalled platform for growth in 9Now and Stan, as Australia continues to transition to free and paid streaming

Commencing in July 2024 with the Olympic Games Paris 2024, Nine will provide Australia with a front row seat to the next five Olympic Games, including Milan (2026), Los Angeles (2028) and the yet to be announced 2030 Winter Games, all leading up to Australia’s return to hosting an Olympic Games in Brisbane in 2032.

Nine will bring the images and sounds of the Games to audiences like never before, harnessing the power of its diverse streaming, television, audio and digital platforms, across 9Now, Stan, the 9Network, and talk radio stations 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR. Full coverage will also be delivered across Nine’s suite of print and online publishing platforms: The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times, WA Today, The Australian Financial Review, and nine.com.au.

IOC President, Thomas Bach, said: “Australia is a great sporting nation with a long Olympic history which will be taken to new heights with the hosting of the Olympic Games Brisbane 2032. Our new partnership with Nine will ensure Olympic fans across Australia have unparalleled coverage of the Olympic Games on their platform of choice.”

Mike Sneesby, CEO of Nine, said: “This partnership with the IOC is an important part of Nine’s strategy as we continue to define Australian broadcast and streaming television. We’re delighted to be bringing the Olympics Games to Australian audiences, whenever and however they choose from Paris 2024 to Brisbane in 2032.”

“These rights complement our recently renewed partnerships with the NRL and Tennis Australia at a time when live sport continues to demonstrate its ability to drive strong growth in streaming audiences and strength in free-to-air TV consumption. Importantly, this deal enables Nine to make the Olympic Games accessible to all Australia, across more platforms than ever before.”

“For our audiences, advertisers and teams across Australia, today’s announcement brings the Olympic Games home to Nine, and directly reflects our purpose – Australia Belongs Here.”

Nine’s Chief Sales Officer, Michael Stephenson, said: “The Olympic Games is a marketing platform for brands with unrivalled scale. Over the next 10 years we have the opportunity to build long term strategic plans with our partners and sponsors to grow their brands and build their business. Everything is building towards an Aussie Olympics in Brisbane in 2032.”

“As the exclusive media network of the most iconic and prestigious sporting event on the calendar, Nine can offer our commercial partners marketing opportunities at scale in an unrivalled Total TV, Total Audio and Total Publishing environment – all delivered in an environment of stories, experiences and performances from the very best athletes and teams in the world.”

Over the next decade, Nine’s Wide World of Sports (WWOS) will assemble a world-class team of experts and storytellers to continue the country’s Olympic journey and to inspire a new generation of Olympic fans. Together, they will deliver thousands of hours of Olympic content across Nine’s suite of platforms, connecting with sports fans like never before.

Michael Healy, Nine’s Director of Television, said: “From our unbeatable network of assets, to the world-class class coverage delivered by the country’s best presenters, commentators and experts, Nine is undeniably the true home of the Olympic Games. Across the breadth of our business, including our affiliate partners, we reach almost 98 percent of Australians, and are incredibly proud to be able to inspire a new generation of fans with a decade of Olympic Games coverage. Building on our leading news, sports and entertainment brands, we are committed to delivering the very best viewing experience for our audiences that culminates in the ultimate celebration on home soil in 2032.”

In addition to free-to-air and streaming coverage, Nine will broadcast key moments from the Olympic Games across its talk radio stations, 2GB Sydney, 3AW Melbourne, 6PR Perth and 4BC Brisbane. This will allow Australian audiences to tune in anywhere, anytime, and on any device to get the very latest Olympics news and coverage.

The next decade will be one of opportunity and growth for Nine – which is already the market leader when it comes to sparking conversations, challenging perspectives, and entertaining our communities.

Now, as the exclusive broadcaster of the biggest sporting brand in the world, Nine will attract millions of users to its platforms to celebrate the big occasions and connect the everyday moments on the road to Brisbane 2032.

 

 

[TorchbearerSydney]

Just saw the first ads on Channel 9 for 2024/26/28/30/ and 32.......I have to say the images for Brisbane 2032 were jaw dropping.....very impressive.

[BigVic]

End of an era. No more Bruce McAvaney. 7 has cricket and Aussie Rules plus horse racing throughout the year while 9 has Grand Slam Tennis, Rugby, Rugby League, State of Origin and swimming as well as print and radio. 

[Sir Rols]

One words… Eddie. Ugh!

I actually locked eyes with and almost bumped into Eddie in London, and got a glare for the impertinence of nodding to him.

Thank the gods for streaming.

 

10 hours ago, BigVic said:

End of an era. No more Bruce McAvaney. 

Yeah, sad. This is why I prefer 7 to 9 as our Olympic broadcaster. Bruce is one of us - an Olympic nerd - and gave some soul to the Olympic coverage beyond treating it as just another big ratings event. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Sir Rols

[rio2016man]

Bruce McAvaney called his last Olympics or is there some way that Nine can - at least temporarily - hire him for their Paris 2024 telecasts?

[Quaker2001]

8 minutes ago, rio2016man said:

Bruce McAvaney called his last Olympics or is there some way that Nine can - at least temporarily - hire him for their Paris 2024 telecasts?

When NBC had their first Winter Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake, they brought in Jim McKay as a correspondent to work on the Opening Ceremony as well as leading to nightly features.  Obviously helped the cause that it was an Olympics in the United States.