Rogers Media will not play at the 2014 and 2016 Olympics, but it is still all in for London 2012.
In an announcement released today, Rogers Media says it will not pursue a bid for the Canadian broadcast rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games as part of Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium.
"As much as Rogers Media would like to continue being involved with the Olympic Movement, scheduling conflicts, combined with our financial priorities, suggest that it's best for us not to be involved at this time," Keith Pelley, President, Rogers Media Inc., explained.
Under the current agreement, Rogers Media is a 20% stakeholder within the Consortium, with the remaining 80% interest controlled by CTV. A renewal option was not exercised by Rogers.
"This was a difficult decision on so many levels, but it's a disciplined approach that allows us to pursue new opportunities to best serve our viewers, shareholders and advertisers," continued Pelley.
"At Vancouver 2010, Rogers and CTV together set a new standard of media excellence, giving viewers the power of choice with multiplatform coverage in multiple languages," said Pelley. "We look forward to delivering that same robust content strategy next summer at London 2012."
As an official rights-holder within the Consortium, Rogers Media, along with CTV, plans to deliver more than 5,000 hours of coverage of London 2012 using multiple media platforms.