BBC sub-licences Olympics TV rights from Discovery

The BBC has become the first company to sub-licence television rights to the Olympic Games from Discovery Communications, the two corporations announced on Tuesday.

Already the United Kingdom's rights-holder for the 2018 Winter Games and 2020 Summer Games, the BBC has agreed to sub-licence free-to-air TV rights and digital rights from Discovery for the 2022 Winter and 2024 Summer Games.

Financial details were not disclosed.

"The BBC prides itself on bringing the biggest sporting moments to the public," BBC director general Tony Hall said in a press release.

"I'm delighted that through our new partnership with Discovery, the BBC will continue to carry the torch for great sporting coverage right through to the 2024 Games.

"While the BBC has had to take some tough financial decisions, this partnership underlines our commitment to making world-class sport available to all."

American firm Discovery announced last June that it had paid 1.3 billion euros ($1.44 billion) for exclusive multimedia rights for 50 countries and territories in Europe for every Games between 2018 and 2024.

As part of the deal announced on Tuesday, Discovery will sub-licence pay-TV rights in the UK to the 2018 and 2020 Olympics from the BBC.

"Today's agreement is a win for UK sports fans and marks an exciting new chapter in Discovery and the BBC's partnership on major sporting events," said Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav.

"For 30 years, our two organisations have chartered new frontiers with co-production partnerships in factual and natural history programming.

"Now we join together once again to bring the most compelling stories of human ambition, sacrifice and achievement to people across the UK."