IOC to launch Olympic channel on YouTube

Category: Sports and internet

August 5th 08, 11:16

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced plans to launch a channel on video-sharing site YouTube to make clips from the upcoming Beijing event available to certain territories.

According to the committee, the channel will be available for users in 77 regions across Africa, Asia and the Middle East from August 6th, covering those areas where digital video-on-demand (VOD) rights have not been sold or have been bought on a non-exclusive basis.

Users will be able to access a host of sports clips from via the channel in the form of a VOD service, including news, highlights and event footage throughout the duration of the Beijing Olympics, complementing the existing Olympic website.

Timo Lumme, IOC director of television and marketing services, said that the launch of the YouTube channel will help the Olympics to gain complete online coverage worldwide for the first time in its history.

"The IOC's channel will make fantastic Olympic footage available where young generations of sports fans are already going for online entertainment and will complement the footage offered in these territories by our broadcast partners across all media platforms," he added.

Patrick Walker of YouTube told the Wall Street Journal that the channel is likely to see in the region of 800 clips uploaded to the social media website over the course of the event.

This news story was brought to you by Bluhalo, a leading UK digital agency.

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