BeIN Sports acquires exclusive broadcast rights

BeIN Sports has won the exclusive broadcast rights in the Middle East and North Africa for four editions of the Olympic Games from 2018 to 2024, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Monday.
"With its excellent track record in broadcasting, we believe that beIN will provide fantastic coverage across the region of each edition of the Olympic Games, including free-to-air television coverage," said IOC president Thomas Bach.

"BeIN Sports has also committed to providing unprecedented promotion of Olympic sports all year round, including significant support for the Olympic Channel in the future," he added.

Under the agreement with IOC, beIN Sports has the broadcast rights to the 2018 winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo as well as the 2022 and 2024 games, whose hosts are yet to be decided.

"Although we have had the privilege to broadcast the Olympic Games for many years in MENA, our direct acquisition of the Olympics Games from the IOC fulfills our ambition of bringing all premium sports to our viewers in the region. We look forward to further growing our relationship with the IOC," beIN Sports CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi said.

The sports network has acquired the rights across all broadcast platforms, including free-to-air television, subscription television, internet and mobile phone in all languages. The agreement also includes the right to broadcast all editions of the Youth Olympic Games until 2024, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported Monday.