The UK boss of Warner Bros. Discovery’s media business has defended the company putting much of the Olympics behind a paywall, saying it represents ‘equally good, if not better’ value than the BBC’s coverage.
Andrew Georgiou said given the amount of content from Paris 2024 that would be available on subscription service Discovery+ it was not ‘unreasonable’ to ask for £3.99 to get ‘100 per cent of everything’.
But the deal which sees Warner Bros. Discovery allowed to show much more coverage than the BBC has been controversial.
During the Tokyo 2020 games, the BBC was hit with a tide of complaints about the lack of the live coverage compared to previous games.
This saw two former BBC chairmen call for broadcasting rules to be changed to make sure free to air channels can show much fuller coverage of the Olympics.
Under the current deal the BBC is restricted to showing two live events at any one time, while Discovery+ is able to show 100 per cent of the action for the entire games.
For Paris 2024 the BBC will show more than 250 hours of live coverage compared to Discovery+ airing 3,800 hours of live coverage (Pictured, the Olympic rings are seen at the entrance of the Louvre Museum)
Under the current deal the BBC is restricted to showing two live events at any one time (From left to right, Fred Sirieix, Isa Guha, Hazel Irvine, Clare Balding, Gabby Logan, Jeanette Kwakye, JJ Chalmers, Laura Kenny)
This means for Paris 2024 the BBC will show more than 250 hours of live coverage compared to Discovery+ airing 3,800 hours of live coverage.
When asked if he was worried that Warner Bros. Discovery would get blamed for putting so much of the coverage on a pay service, Mr Georgiou said: ‘We have said to the British consumer, that if you want everything then it costs you £3.99 for a month subscription to watch all the Olympics.
‘And if you think about that value proposition to a consumer that’s a very, very good value proposition, which we are very happy to stand behind.
‘And then if we put that up against also the BBC, the value proposition for us is equally good, if not better, given the amount of content we have versus the BBC.’
Speaking to journalists he claimed that during the Tokyo games, die-hard fans of events like equestrian categories signed up to the subscription service, because they could see more of it there than on the BBC. He said: ‘And the BBC can’t give you everything.’
This week the BBC appeared to be laying the groundwork to avoid another row about its reduced coverage for the Paris games, by putting a piece up on its website to ‘avoid any confusion’ about what it is allowed to show.
During the Tokyo 2020 games, the BBC was hit with a tide of complaints about the lack of the live coverage compared to previous games
Andrew Georgiou said given the amount of content from Paris 2024 that would be available on subscription service Discovery+ it was not ‘unreasonable’ to ask for £3.99 (File image)
It explained: ‘Fast forward to Paris 2024, and they [Warner Bros. Discovery] can show as much of the action as they want across as many channels as they want.
‘That, in the UK, was previously something the BBC did – you’ll remember we offered online and Red Button feeds of every sport during London 2012.’
The BBC added for Paris 2024: ‘The BBC will have a network TV channel and a second broadcast stream throughout the games.’
It said: ‘Since the Winter Olympics in 2018 what’s changed is that if you are really into a specific sport that isn’t the main story of the day, we may not be able to broadcast it live.
‘We will still update you on all the stories of the day, but if it’s wall-to-wall Greco-Roman Wrestling you’re looking for, then Discovery+ will be the place to watch.’
The BBC’s explainer about Olympic rights included the question ‘Why didn’t the BBC just pay more to have everything?’. To which it answered: ‘Quite simply because we take decisions over our spending very seriously as it is licence fee payers’ money that we are using.’
It added: ‘As much as we’d like to, we can’t buy everything we want.’
In 2021, when the delayed Tokyo games took place, Lord Grade, who was chairman of the BBC between 2004 and 2006, said: ‘I think that Parliament needs to look at this and find some way, not of interfering in the market, but making sure that there is fuller coverage on free to air.’
Speaking before he was made Ofcom chair, he said: ‘It’s a huge disappointment to people not to be able to have the usual fuller BBC coverage. The Olympic games belongs to everyone really.’
