Olympics on Australian television

The Olympic Games have been broadcast on Australian television since 1956, coinciding with both the introduction of television in Australia as well as the first year Australia hosted an Olympics. All three commercial networks have broadcast the Summer Olympics or Winter Olympics at least once, as have both public broadcasters and the dominant subscription television platform Foxtel, often sharing broadcasting rights with another network.

The Olympics is on the anti-siphoning list, meaning subscription television providers are banned from bidding for exclusive broadcasting rights, to ensure the sporting event is available on free-to-air television to all viewers.[1]

History

1956

Television in Australia was launched in order to ensure the first Olympics to be held in Australia could be broadcast. The only three television stations in Melbourne and Sydney shared the rights. For technical reasons, Sydney viewers received pictures up to a day later than Melbourne viewers.[2]

2000s

Throughout the 2000s, the Seven Network held the broadcast rights to all the Summer and Winter Games, sharing rights with SBS in both 2004 and 2008.[3] SBS primarily broadcast long form events and less popular sports.[4]

Seven's coverage received multiple awards across the decade from the IOC at their media awards known as the Golden Rings. It was awarded 'Best Olympic Programme' in 2004,[5] received three awards in 2006[6] and took the gold award for 'Best Olympic Programme' for the third year in a row in 2008.[7]

2010s

The Nine Network and Foxtel jointly secured a broadcast rights package which included both the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics, reportedly paying up to $120 million.[8] It marked the first time a subscription television provider was an official Olympics broadcast partner in Australia. Foxtel provided 8 dedicated channels and was the first time more than one channel of Olympic coverage was offered, and also the first time Australian viewers could pay to access Olympic content beyond what was available on free to air television.[9]

The International Olympic Committee initially attempted to sell broadcast rights for both the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics as a package for the same price of $120 million it secured for the previous rights deal. However, it was forced to split the Winter games with broadcasters unwilling to meet the IOC's demands.[10] It follows Nine losing up to $30 million on the 2012 Olympics[11] as well as increasing costs of rights to domestic sports.[10] Network Ten paid $20 million for the 2014 Winter Games.[12] Its flagship nightly program was Sochi Tonight, and it marked the first time a network used a mutlichannel to air Olympic content, with ONE airing different content to the primary Ten channel.[13]

In 2014, the IOC announced it had signed a deal estimated to be worth up to $170 million with the Seven Network to broadcast the following three Olympics, the 2016 and 2020 Summer and 2018 Winter Games.[14] The 2016 Games was the first time a free to air broadcaster used two multichannels (7Two and 7mate) to air Olympic content in addition to their primary channel. It was also the first time a paid streaming service was made available, with a $19.95 premium app being offered.[15]

Broadcasters
Year Host Broadcaster Cost of rights Ref Host Broadcaster Country
1956 Summer Melbourne ABC N/A [2] ABC
1960 Summer Rome ABC N/A
1964 Summer Tokyo ABC N/A
1968 Summer Mexico City ABC N/A
1972 Summer Munich ABC N/A
1976 Summer Montreal ABC N/A [3]
1980 Summer Moscow Seven N/A [3]
1984 Summer Los Angeles Ten N/A [3] abc
1988 Summer Seoul
1992 Summer Barcelona Seven N/A [3]
1994 Winter Lillehammer Nine N/A
1996 Summer Atlanta Seven N/A [3] NBC
1998 Winter Nagano Seven N/A
2000 Summer Sydney Seven N/A [3] Seven
2002 Winter Salt Lake City [16] NBC
2004 Summer Athens Seven N/A [3]
2006 Winter Turin Seven $71 million [17] Rai
2008 Summer Beijing Seven CCTV
2010 Winter Vancouver Nine $120 million [8][11] CTV
2012 Summer London BBC
2014 Winter Sochi Ten $20 million [18][19][20]
2016 Summer Rio de Janeiro Seven $150-$170 million [14][21]
2018 Winter Pyeongchang SBS
2020 Summer Tokyo

See also

References
  1. Homewood, Sarah (7 July 2016). "Seven's Olympic app 'exploits' loophole in anti-siphoning rule". AdNews. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  2. "Popular Australian television". Australian Government. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  3. "Nine and Foxtel score Olympic win". Television AU. 13 October 2007. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  4. Knox, David (4 April 2007). "Seven and SBS in Olympic deal". TV Tonight. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  5. "IOC rewards best television sports coverage of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games". Olympics. 15 December 2004. Archived from the original on 16 December 2004.
  6. "Winners of the Olympic Golden Rings 2006". Olympics. 13 December 2006. Archived from the original on 16 December 2006.
  7. "Seven has last laugh over Olympics coverage". Brisbane Times. 17 December 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  8. Knox, David (13 October 2007). "Nine and Foxtel win 2012 Olympics rights". TV Tonight. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  9. Jericho, Greg. "Free-to-air just can't compete at the Olympics". ABC.
  10. Long, Michael (13 May 2013). "Report: Ten Network snaps up cut-price Sochi rights". SportsPro. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  11. Davidson, Darren (9 July 2012). "Nine Network hits $30m Olympics hurdle". The Australian. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  12. Christensen, Nic (13 May 2013). "Ten 'picks up 2014 Winter Olympics for $20m'". Mumbrella. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  13. "Channel 10 promises more than 550 hours of Sochi Winter Olympics coverage". news.com.au. 30 October 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  14. Idato, Michael (5 August 2014). "Seven Network nets Olympic Games hat-trick with broadcast rights to 2020". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  15. Knox, David (1 August 2016). "Seven announces Olympics app pricing". TV Tonight. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  16. "The Salt Lake 2002 experience" (PDF). Olympics. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  17. "Seven Network slams Nine's Olympic coup". news.com.au. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  18. "Olympic fury over rules for TV sport". The Australian. 7 April 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  19. "Seven withdraws from bidding for Olympics as price tag proves too great for TV networks". Fox Sports. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  20. MacKay, Duncan (12 May 2013). "Ten Network signs $20 million deal to broadcast Sochi 2014 in Australia, claim reports". Inside the Games. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  21. Lehmann, John (8 July 2014). "Seven Network reclaims rights to broadcast Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
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