Murdoch’s Fox Confirm 4-Edition Bid for Olympics Rights

It has been confirmed that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Fox Sports, who began the bidding for the rights to broadcast the Olympics in the United States after London 2012 yesterday, June 6, would like to secure a deal through until the Games in 2020.

The decision to bid for the four editions post 2012, which will cover the next two Winter Games and the two summer Games after the London event, has been made even though the 2020 event will not be awarded to a host city for more than two years.

Their offer ups the stakes for NBC, the current rights holders, and ESPN, who are both due to make their presentations to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the Beau Rivage Palace in Lausanne today, June 7.

Fox’s delegation was led by chairman David Hill, who helped launch BSkyB in Britain and negotiate the deal with England’s Premier League that has transformed soccer across Europe.

Up for grabs are the television rights for the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014 and the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. However, Hill wants to also tie up a deal for the 2018 Winter Olympics – which will be awarded to either Annecy, Munich or Pyeongchang – and the 2020 Summer Games. Such a deal is expected to cost between $4bn and $5bn.

Hill told the Associated Press: “We’re going to go for four. If you look at amortization, you have to make a major investment in technical hardware.

“Anyone will tell you if you advertise that over four years rather than two years, you’re financially in a much better place.”

The three bidders are due to submit sealed bids after the presentations are completed in the afternoon and a decision could be made by the IOC as soon as this evening.