Andre Yoskowitz
5 Aug 2008 18:56
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has inked a deal with Google to have clips and highlights of the Olympics shown on the video sharing site YouTube trough a branded channel.
"The IOC's priority is to ensure that as many people as possible get to experience the magic of the Olympic Games and the inspirational sporting achievements of the Olympic athletes," said Timo Lumme, IOC director of television and marketing.
"For the first time in Olympic history we will have complete global online coverage, and the IOC will have its own broadcast channel, which will make fantastic Olympic footage available where young generations of sports fans are already going for online entertainment," Lumme added.
The IOC says it hopes the deal will help it tap into the youth market of YouTube and the group will be offering three hours each day of content. The content will be a compilation of all the day's highlights and action.
The clips will begin on August 6th, two days before the start of the games and will be available at the branded channel at www.youtube.com/beijing2008.
The deal is intended for users in countries where "digital rights have not been sold or have been acquired on a nonexclusive basis." For places such as the US, NBC will be broadcasting 3600 hours of television coverage and streaming about 1200 of those hours online for free.