Established in 2007,[1] Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium (legal name 7048467 Canada Inc., also sometimes referred to informally in branding as CTV Olympics and RDS Olympiques, additionally referred to as the National Olympic Network by BBM Canada) was a joint venture set up by Canadian media companies Bell Media (formerly CTVglobemedia) and Rogers Media to produce the Canadian broadcasts of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, as well as the two corresponding Paralympic Games. Bell owned 80% of the joint venture, and Rogers owned 20%.[2]
The consortium encompassed many of the properties owned by both companies, including Bell Media's CTV Television Network, TSN, RDS and RDS Info, and Rogers Media's Omni Television, Sportsnet, OLN, and the Rogers radio stations group. Several other broadcasters carried consortium coverage, including Noovo (formerly V), and several channels owned by Asian Television Network. Finally, dedicated websites in English and French (ctvolympics.ca and rdsolympiques.ca) were set up to stream live coverage over the Internet to Canadian viewers. The consortium replaced CBC Sports, which had held the Canadian rights to all Olympics beginning with the 1996 games, although some cable rights had been sub-licensed to TSN / RDS beginning in 1998.
Rogers announced in September 2011 that it would withdraw from the consortium following London 2012, and therefore not participate in its bid for rights to the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics. The company cited scheduling conflicts and financial considerations for the decision.[3] Bell Media then announced a new partnership with the CBC to bid for Canadian broadcasting rights of Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016. Broadcast details for the joint bid were never released.[4] The joint Bell/CBC bid was considered the prohibitive favourite to win the rights when the International Olympic Committee accepted bids.[5] However, the Bell/CBC bids were rejected by the IOC.
On August 1, 2012, CBC Sports announced that it had made a deal to broadcast the 2014 and 2016 Summer and Winter Olympics, replacing the Bell/Rogers group.[6] However, in February 2013, CBC announced that both Sportsnet and TSN would sub-license broadcast rights to the 2014 Winter Olympics.[7][8]
- ^ "CANAda's OLYMPIC BROADCAST MEDIA CONSORTIUM - OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES - ENGLISH | Every Second Live - Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium Unveils Unprecedented and Ambitious Digital Coverage for Vancouver 2010". Archived from the original on 2011-06-09. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
- ^ Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium (2010-11-03). "Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium Wins Seven Gemini Awards for Esteemed Coverage of Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games". Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
- ^ Rogers Media (2011-09-08). "Rogers Media Withdraws from Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium in Bid for 2014/16 Olympic Games". Retrieved 2011-09-09.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Bell Media and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (2011-09-09). "Bell Media and CBC/Radio-Canada to Jointly Bid for Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games". Retrieved 2011-09-09.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Krashinsky, Susan (2011-09-09). "Bell Media, CBC partner for Olympic bid". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
- ^ "CBC wins rights to 2014, 2016 Olympic Games". CBC Sports. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
- ^ "Sportsnet to air 200 hours of Sochi Games". Sportsnet. Archived from the original on 2013-02-13. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
- ^ "CBC/Radio Canada welcomes partners in 2014 Sochi Olympics coverage". CBC. Retrieved 8 February 2013.