National broadcaster Mediacorp has struck an eleventh-hour deal to screen the 2016 Olympic Games live, one day before the opening ceremony on Saturday (Aug 6) morning Singapore time.
The deal, struck with rights holder Dentsu Inc, was termed a “breakthrough” by Mediacorp deputy chief excecutive Mr Chang Long Jong, in a press statement on Friday (Aug 5) morning.
He said: “As a commercial company with a social purpose, we needed to balance the cost of acquiring live broadcast rights and the expectations of our audiences.”
The two sides had earlier failed to reach a deal because Dentsu had reportedly asked for US$6 million (S$8.05 million).
There was no mention of how much the latest deal with struck for.
This is good news for sports fans who will able to watch the Games live every day from Aug 6 to Aug 22 on okto, Mediacorp’s designated TV channel for sports content, and on four Toggle channels. Toggle channels are free and no set top box is required.
The statement said: “With okto and Toggle, Singapore viewers have a choice of watching, at any one time, any of five Olympic events taking place in Rio.”
On July 22, The Straits Times reported that Mediacorp and Dentsu had inked a deal for only delayed telecasts of the Games. Only the opening and closing ceremonies would be shown live.
On July 31, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu said that the decision not to have live telecasts of the sporting action remained a “commercial one”.
This came on the back of a Straits Times report that the Government was unlikely to provide additional funding to secure live broadcast rights to the Aug 5- 21 Games with a spokesman saying “the acquisition of rights for live sports content will remains a commercial decision.”
sujint@sph.com.sg
