The

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

have been broadcast on Australian television since 1956, coinciding with both the introduction of

television in Australia Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne with radio stations 3DB and 3UZ, and 2UE in Sydney, using the ''Radiovision'' system by Gilbert Miles and Donald McDonald, and later from other locations, such as Brisb ...

as well as the first year Australia hosted an Olympics. All three commercial networks have broadcast the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

at least once, as have both public broadcasters and the dominant

subscription television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

platform

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

, often sharing broadcasting rights with another network. The Olympics is on the anti-siphoning list, meaning subscription television providers are banned from bidding for exclusive broadcasting rights, to ensure the sporting event is available on free-to-air television to all viewers.

History

1956

Television in Australia was launched in order to ensure the first Olympics to be held in Australia could be broadcast. The only three television stations in Melbourne and Sydney shared the rights. For technical reasons, Sydney viewers received pictures up to a day later than Melbourne viewers.

1960s

For the 1960 Olympics, held in Rome, the coverage was 100% bought in from one of the USA networks. This was not modified AT ALL in consideration of the hugely enthusiastic Australian viewership. Enthusiasm quickly turned into a feeling of insult, as it was only if we figured prominently in any event, that there was any mention of Australians at all, and then, it seemed always in context of how and why the USA was unsuccessful. Compared to 1956, this coverage was deeply disappointing. A complete debacle.

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Throughout the 2000s, the Seven Network held the broadcast rights to all the Summer and Winter Games, sharing rights with SBS in both

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. SBS primarily broadcast long form events and less popular sports. Seven's coverage received multiple awards across the decade from the IOC at their media awards known as the Golden Rings. It was awarded 'Best Olympic Programme' in 2004, received three awards in 2006 and took the gold award for 'Best Olympic Programme' for the third year in a row in 2008.

2010s

The

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

and

jointly secured a broadcast rights package which included both the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

and

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, reportedly paying up to $120 million. It marked the first time a subscription television provider was an official Olympics broadcast partner in Australia. Foxtel provided 8 dedicated channels and was the first time more than one channel of Olympic coverage was offered, and also the first time Australian viewers could pay to access Olympic content beyond what was available on free to air television. The

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

initially attempted to sell broadcast rights for both the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

and

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

as a package for the same price of $120 million it secured for the previous rights deal. However, it was forced to split the Winter games with broadcasters unwilling to meet the IOC's demands. It follows Nine losing up to $30 million on the 2012 Olympics as well as increasing costs of rights to domestic sports.

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

paid $20 million for the 2014 Winter Games. Its flagship nightly program was ''Sochi Tonight'', and it marked the first time a network used a multichannel to air Olympic content, with

ONE 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

airing different content to the primary Ten channel. In 2014, the IOC announced it had signed a deal estimated to be worth up to $170 million with the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

to broadcast the following three Olympics, the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and 2020 Summer and 2018 Winter Games. The 2016 Games was the first time a free to air broadcaster used two multichannels ( 7Two and

7mate 7mate is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010. The channel contains sport and regular programs aimed primarily to a male audience, with programming drawn from a c ...

) to air Olympic content in addition to their primary channel. It was also the first time a paid

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

service was made available, with a $19.95 premium app being offered.

2020's

In 2023, Channel 9 announced they had signed a deal for $305 million for exclusive broadcast rights of the Olympics until the

2032 Summer Olympics The 2032 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXV Olympiad and also known as Brisbane 2032 or Bris2032, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 23 July to 8 August 2032, with Brisbane, Queensland, ...

, these rights included both the Summer and Winter Olympics along with broadcast rights for the

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

Broadcasters

References

{{reflist Olympics on television History of Olympic broadcasting Seven Sport Nine's Wide World of Sports 10 Sport Foxtel