BBC Signs Olympics Deal

The BBC has today announced that it has signed a deal with the International Olympics Committee (IOC) for the rights to cover the next four Olympic Games.

The deal will include exclusive TV, radio and digital rights for Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018 as well as the 2020 Games.

Mark Thompson, Director-General, BBC said: "I'm delighted that the Olympic Games will continue to be broadcast exclusively on the BBC into the 2020s. It's terrific news in the days before BBC Sport begins to cover the London 2012 Games and a tribute to the enduring partnership between the BBC and the Olympic movement."

Barbara Slater, Director, BBC Sport, said: “This news will come as a massive boost to our teams who are about to undertake our most ambitious sports broadcast ever at the biggest sporting event in our country’s history. The Olympic Games has always been significant as an event that brings the nation together as well as a catalyst for broadcasting innovation and we’re delighted that BBC Sport can now continue to deliver on these traditions through to 2020.”

Rio 2016 and the 2020 Olympics will represent the 16th and 17th Summer Olympic Games broadcast by the BBC, a sequence that began with the 1948 Games in London and one that has run unbroken since the 1960 Games in Rome, Italy.

In total the BBC will have broadcast 33 Olympic Games after the 2020 Games, including the 16 Winter Olympics since Squaw Valley, California, USA, also in 1960.

At the London 2012 Olympic Games, for the first time, the BBC will be providing live coverage of every Olympic Sport from every venue throughout the day. This will amount to around 2,500 hours of live Olympic sporting action, over 1,000 hours more than Beijing 2008.

July 18 2012 - waveguide.co.uk

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Christine Bleakley

Christine Bleakley has told a magazine that hosting  ITV1's Daybreak "wasn't easy".

The 33-year-old presenter was axed from the morning show in December 2011 just over a year after joining with Adrian Childes and she feels much happier now she is no longer working on the ITV1 programme.

Asked if she regrets taking on the show: "No, because it's good to do different shows. But it certainly wasn't easy. I have to say, I feel more rested now!

"I hate tempting fate but, yes, I am happy. I want to enjoy myself over the summer, then see what happens. I'm definitely more relaxed now I don't have to get up early!"

Bleakley is still in contact with her former Daybreak colleagues because they struck up a close bond due to their shared tiredness caused by the early starts.

She told new! Magazine: "I was chatting to Dan Lobb only yesterday and I talk to Adrian [Chiles] a lot. He's on brilliant form and enjoying life immensely. You get so close working on something like Daybreak, especially when you're all knackered and getting up so early when the rest of the world is asleep."

July 18 2012 - waveguide.co.uk

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