You may never again have to wait four years between Olympic TV coverage.
Sixteen key International Olympic Committee leaders and sports officials backed IOC President Thomas Bach’s proposal for a year-round Olympic television channel, the Associated Press reports.
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Bach’s vision, Olympic Agenda 2020, was the topic of a Saturday meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, which yielded a December vote about the possibility of a new TV channel, among other platform changes. Bach believes that the channel would help Olympic sports connect with younger people.
Those in attendance agreed, “recognizing the potential to greatly increase the presence of sports and the promotion of the Olympic values year round and worldwide,” an IOC statement said.
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It added, “The IOC will contact all the relevant stakeholders in the coming months to further develop the concept.”
Details of the project are still pending, though the IOC has said it would act as a “curator or moderator” of digital content, using the National Geographic Channel as a model. Sports federations, national Olympic committees, broadcasters, and sponsors would be asked to sign on.
The summit also yielded a new procedure for cities bidding to host the Olympics, allowing for “more flexibility,” according to the report.