YouTube to stream live Olympics in Asia, Africa

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced that it will live stream the London 2012 Olympic Games in 64 territories on the IOC’s channel on YouTube http://youtube.com/olympic.

During the Olympic Games (27 July to 12 August), sports fans in these  64 territories across Asia and Africa will be able to enjoy live coverage of the events as well as highlight clips on this digital platform — free-of-charge. Viewers from these territories will be able to watch the streams on the IOC’s YouTube channel, accessible online or on Internet-enabled devices like smart/mobile phones and other YouTube-enabled devices.

The live-streaming on the IOC’s YouTube channel will provide exclusive digital access to the London 2012 Olympic Games in territories where digital broadcast rights have not already been acquired by the IOC’s broadcast partners:

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Bhutan, Cambodia, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

And in 42 Sub-Saharan African territories on a non-exclusive basis, including:

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The IOC’s live streaming on its YouTube channel will consist of 11 different simultaneous high-definition broadcasts, all with English language commentary. There will be 10 live feeds from London 2012, running 9 am to 11 pm (WAT) (on some days, these will start earlier or finish later based on the competition schedule), plus a 24-hour broadcast of the Olympic News Channel, which includes summaries of the latest results, general reports on different events, and interviews with athletes.

Fans will also be able to catch up on highlights and full events — all organised by the day, medal event or the sport. The IOC channel will also continue to feature historic content from past Olympic Games. In total, the IOC’s YouTube channel will offer over 2,200 hours hours of sporting event coverage from London 2012, including all the medals finals.

Timo Lumme, Managing Director, IOC Television and Marketing, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer live online coverage of London 2012 to sports fans free of charge across these 64 markets. We first provided clips on our channel on YouTube during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games across the region, and since then have continued to provide footage of past Olympic Games across the world on our YouTube channel. Now we will also be able to offer live coverage during London 2012, complementing the excellent coverage provided by our broadcast partners across the world across all media platforms.”