Discovery Communications has signed a long-term partnership with Austria’s public broadcaster ORF ensuring that every event of the Olympic Games in 2018 and 2020 will be available for Austrian audiences across multiple screens.
Under the agreement of which financial details have not been disclosed, ORF will exclusively sublicense from Discovery free-to-air rights for its TV and radio channels. ORF will, thus be able, to continue its legacy of following local medal events and other key competitions. The sublicence package includes selected digital rights to the content ORF broadcasts on its linear TV channels.
Discovery’s subsidiary Eurosport will hold pay rights to air all Olympic Games action on its German-language channels available in Austria as well as across all digital, OTT and mobile platforms.
“We have secured a groundbreaking Olympic partnership for viewers in Austria, ensuring that the Olympic Games remains accessible to the broadest possible audience and delivered to the highest standard,” said Kasia Kieli, president of Discovery Networks Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. “The agreement is a perfectly example of how Discovery will deliver more coverage of the Olympic Games across more screens than ever before.”
Discovery secured the exclusive TV and multimedia rights covering 50 countries and territories in Europe for the 2018-2024 Olympics in June 2015 for a total of €1.3 billion. Including ORF, the commercial broadcaster so far concluded seven sublicensing agreements with national broadcasters in Croatia (HRT), the Czech Republic (Ceska Televize), Finland (YLE), Ireland (RTE), Netherlands (NOS) and UK (BBC).
