2018 Olympic Games to be broadcast on ARD and ZDF in Germany

Munich (RWH) The 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, will be broadcast on public service television in Germany. After extensive negotiations with Eurosport parent Discovery, ARD and ZDF have reached an agreement on sub-licences for all Olympic Games between 2018 and 2024. This was announced by ARD and ZDF in a joint press release issued in Munich on 11 August 2017.

According to the press release, ARD and ZDF will provide comprehensive live coverage for several hours per day on TV, radio and online starting at the Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, from 9 to 25 February 2018.

“Following intense negotiations, SportA, the sports rights agency of ARD and ZDF, reached an agreement with Discovery in relation to the sub-licensing of comprehensive media usage rights for the next four Olympic Games which is fully compliant with the programming interests of ARD and ZDF and also takes into account the economic options in relation to public service broadcasting”.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had awarded the European TV rights for the 2018 Olympic Games (PyeongChang / South Korea), 2020 (Tokyo / Japan), 2022 (Beijing / China) and 2024 (host to be confirmed) to the US company Discovery for €1.3 billion. The parent company of Eurosport then sold sub-licenses to almost all public service broadcasters in Europe.