The International Olympic Committee has awarded the Middle East and North Africa broadcast rights for Olympic games between 2018 and 2024 to the beIN Media Group, who operates the beIN Sports channels.
The deal follows the ground-breaking broadcast deal with Discovery’s Eurosport for the European television rights, whereby these were granted to a private broadcaster rather than a consortium of public broadcasters.
Until now, the IOC did business with the Arab States Broadcast Union, who stil have the rights to next year’s summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. The new deal covers the XXIII Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang in 2018, and the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo in 2020, as well as the Olympic Games in 2022 and 2024, the host cities of which have yet to be elected. BeIN acquired the rights across all broadcast platforms, including free-to-air television, subscription television, internet and mobile phone in all languages. The agreement also includes the right to broadcast all editions of the Youth Olympic Games until 2024.
“I am pleased to welcome our new broadcast partner in the Middle East and North Africa, beIN Sports,” commented IOC President Thomas Bach.
“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. 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.”
“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 fulfills our ambition of bringing all premium sports to our viewers in the region. We look forward to further growing our relationship with the IOC,” said beIN Media Group CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
IOC member HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein, Delegate Member for Broadcast Rights – Middle East and North Africa, said: “beIN Sports has established itself as a key sports media group in the region and we believe it will be an excellent partner for the Olympic Movement.”
