BBC could lose Olympic rights

It's a not a case of having the resources, it's a case of having the impetus to commit to Olympic coverage.

Sky, ITV, Channel 5, Channel 4, Setanta could all have access to enough resources to do decent coverage of the olympics.... it's just whether it would be financially worth their while doing so that's the issue

Even the BBC doesn't really have the resources any more, they have to hire-in as much as Sky would

And commercially with the contract being for just one winter and one summer games it would be very risky and costly. It's also difficult to establish themselves as the new Olympic broadcaster when the event only comes around every 4 years, plus of course you have the issue with time difference etc.

The only way I see ITV, C4 or Five picking it up is in conjunction with a pay-TV broadcaster - though I don't know if all Olympic coverage has to be FTA, or whether Sky or Setanta could broadcast the games as long as a FTA channel was also screening them.

I do hope though if they do fleece more money out of European broadcaster they'll stop caving into NBC's demands for events to be moved to suit them, rather than the local audience. Also not exactly the most economically viable time to be doing this, but it's got to be in the IOC's interests to at least try it once, even if they have to go back to the EBU next time around.

Presumably this means Eurosport will also have to bid - or they may lose their coverage?

The only real competitor in the UK has to be Sky - they are probably the only other broadcaster in the UK with the ability to commit to the Olympics - though whether they have to show them on their Freeview capacity to meet future "Crown Jewels" legislation we'll have to wait and see. ITV/C4/Five wouldn't make sense these days - and are even less likely to in 6-8 years time.

The Olympics are something of a poison challice - as though the 2016 Summer Games are likely to be popular, would the 2014 Winter Games be a major draw? (Other European countries have a much greater interest in Winter sports than the UK)

BTW - I'm not sure that it is correct to assume that because ITV is an EBU member they could broadcast the Olympics if they wished these days. My understanding is that the BBC is the PRIMARY UK member - and these days that gives them exclusive first-dibs on EBU stuff?

If the BBC is the only British broadcaster that could handle the Olympics, then this doesn't reflect well on the state of British broadcasting. In many other countries, major sporting events routinely move from one broadcaster to another. Most TV coverage comes from the host broadcaster anyway.

Apart from Tokyo, the other candidate cities are looking quite favourable to UK TV coverage in terms of time zone - Chicago, Madrid, Rio. Though I'd have thought it very unlikely to be Madrid seeing as 2012 is London. Rio and Chicago would put the bulk of the events on in the afternoons and evenings for us here

My point was that the Winter games aren't high audience winners - and are part of the deal. The IOC wouldn't agree to them being sidelined...

My understanding is that the IOC were disappointed at the variation in coverage across EBU broadcasters. They see the BBC as one of the best at providing high quality coverage on TV, Radio, Interactive TV, the web etc.

Other European EBU PSBs are lagging badly behind in this regard - and in some territories commercial broadcasters are likely to do a better job...