IOC Announces Free Digital Rights In Nigeria, Others

The International Olympic Committee, IOC, announced that it will live-stream the London 2012 Olympic Games in Nigeria and 63 other African and Asian territories on the IOC’s channel on YouTube http://youtube.com/olympic.

The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) secured the London 2012 Olympic Games Broadcast Rights for the Nigerian territory when it paid. It paid N80 million for the rights and hopes to reap in benefits of over N250 million in cash and kind after selling the commercial rights to its partners.

The best way to watch the Olympics in Nigeria is still through the NOC’s broadcast partners, but now viewers will be able to watch the streams on the IOC’s YouTube channel, accessible online or on Internet-enabled devices like smart/mobile phones and other YouTube-enabled devices free-of-charge.

The live-streaming on the IOC’s YouTube channel will provide exclusive digital access to the London 2012 Olympic Games in territories where digital broadcast rights have not already been acquired by the IOC’s broadcast partners:

The IOC’s live streaming on its YouTube channel will consist of 11 different simultaneous high-definition broadcasts, all with English language commentary. There will be 10 live feeds from London 2012, running 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. (London time) (on some days, these will start earlier or finish later based on the competition schedule), plus a 24-hour broadcast of the Olympic News Channel, which includes summaries of the latest results, general reports on different events, and interviews with athletes.

Fans will also be able to catch up on highlights and full events – all organised by the day, medal event or the sport. The IOC channel will also continue to feature historic content from past Olympic Games. In total, the IOC’s YouTube channel will offer over 2,200 hours of sporting event coverage from London 2012, including all the medals finals.

Timo Lumme, Managing Director, IOC Television and Marketing, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer live online coverage of London 2012 to sports fans free of charge across these 64 markets. We first provided clips on our channel on YouTube during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games across the region, and since then have continued to provide footage of past Olympic Games across the world on our YouTube channel.