CBC Gets Back Into The Olympics Mix

CBC/Radio-Canada has won the Canadian media rights for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

"We thought it was very important for the national public broadcaster whose strategy is signature events," CBC president Hubert Lacroix said. "And there's nothing more significant, more signature and more of an event that brings Canadians together."

Speaking in London, England with CBC's Heather Hiscox, Lacroix said he couldn't comment on the costs but said the deal is a "very financially and fiscally responsible bid because that was our major concern."

For almost 60 years, and on 19 different occasions, CBC had broadcast the Olympic Games, most recently during the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing.

"CBC/Radio-Canada has been an unwavering champion of amateur sport and our nation's best athletes," said Marcel Aubut, president of the Canadian Olympic Committee Wednesday. "They have unparalleled experience in broadcasting major multi-sport events, most notably the Olympic Games."

The deal comes more than a month after CBC and Bell Media announced they would no longer submit joint bids for the Canadian media rights for the games.

The two media organizations, which had formed a partnership last September, had submitted two joint bids for the package, but both were rejected by the International Olympic Committee.

Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, made up of a partnership between Bell Media and Rogers Communications, had the broadcast rights for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and currently have the rights for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

(courtesy CBC.ca)