Computer Law & Security Report Vol. 17 no. 1 20010267 3649/01/$20.00 © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

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Industry leaders from sport and a broad spectrum of interestsconnected with communication and broadcasting gatheredin Lausanne in December for a conference, organised by theInternational Olympic Committee, to explore the developingrelationship between sport and new media, such as theInternet. Commenting on the event David Aikman, IOCspokesperson said:

“The possibilities that new media opens up for spectators,consumers and educators are almost without limit.That wehave chosen to stage this event reflects the importance weattach to new media issues within sports and the need toensure that the Olympic movement and sport as a wholeconsider the implications thesedevelopments bring to theirspheres of activity. Each of us has aresponsibility to maximise the useof all media, new and traditional, inthe best interests of sport and thepublic at large”.It is clear that the opportunities for new media broadcast-

ing and archiving are immense and that it is only just gettingstarted. Microsoft reportedly paid Madonna US$30 million forthe Internet broadcasting rights to her recent concert perfor-mance.This is just the beginning. But broadcasting revenuesobtained for the more traditional TV rights to global eventscan also be substantial. In the United States, for example, theTV network operator NBC paid in excess of US$700 millionfor the rights to Sydney 2000 as part of a US$4 billion agree-ment covering the Games period 1996-2008.However, its rev-enues for advertising during the games alone brought US$900million to NBC. It is reported that new media broadcast rightscannot be considered until after 2008 due to the contractualtie-ins already entered into with the traditional TV serviceproviders like NBC.

The contractual situation may have been a factor in theviews expressed at the conference by Dick Pound, responsi-ble for the IOC’s Internet presence. He sought to play downthe immediate take up of new media broadcasting when hesaid:“The Internet is not ready.TV is the engine”. Live broad-casting of the Olympics therefore remains a decade away andeven modest highlights remain some way away:“We can’t dothat within the context of the contracts we signed” said Dick

Pound.The question is though whether the IOC can hold thisline for such a long period of time. Although the figures forInternet access to Olympic information websites this timeround were modest - 20 million accessing games related infor-mation on the Web compared to 3.6 billion TV viewers -Internet access can only grow once live broadcast rights aregiven to the new media participants.The advertising industrytoo will want to see a Web-based boost to their revenues.

Negotiating those rights will not be easy, however,because the IOC, as intellectual property right holder to theGames, will want secure technologies in place to guardagainst the type of unauthorised exploitation of the specta-

cle by web based operators, that hasalready been experienced by themusic industry through the gatewayof MP3 and Napster distributiontechnologies. The IOC is also likelyto see a problem with the digitalmedia in that it may not reach a

global audience.There is also the territorial issue of how toconfine the broadcast of a particular operator to a specificregion if that is what is required.The European BroadcastingUnion believes that the only way forward is to allow broad-casters complementary online coverage. EBU PresidentAlbert Scharf told the Lausanne conference: “Broadcastingand online technologies belong together and broadcasterswho have acquired broadcasting rights must be able to com-plement their radio and television coverage with onlineoffers”. He also suggested that true convergence through digital technology would be brought about by broadcasterswith “enhanced and interactive TV, rather than the Internet”.

There is much to be done to bring these issues into dis-cussion and to find an appropriate forum within which agree-ment on new media access to international sport can bereached. Public access and the cultural, social and democraticcontribution of sport to society must not be lost in the com-mercial negotiation between the right holders and the broad-casting sector. International sports bodies such as the IOCmust fulfill their obligation to the global community by mov-ing forward in these matters with a firm resolve to tackle thedifficult questions.

EDITORIAL INTERNET NOT READY FOR BROADCASTING REVOLUTIONStephen Saxby

Editorial

The cultural, social and democratic

contribution of sport to society

must not be lost