Italy’s largest telco, TIM, has become the first designated ‘Olympic Mobile Broadcaster’, giving it Olympic Rings branding, an exclusive operator-branded linear news and highlights channel, plus real-time information about, and exclusive short-form content focused on, national (Italian) heroes. TIM subscribers also get access to Eurosport Player, where they can watch full Olympics Games coverage, as part of a landmark deal with Discovery Communications (which owns the Olympics rights and Eurosport).
The Discovery/TIM deal is part of Discovery’s strategy to ensure more immersive Olympics coverage that is available on every screen, and which is more customised and locally relevant. It covers the 2018-2020 Olympic cycle, starting with the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang next February.
More deals of this kind should follow, of course. Discovery describes it as a first-of-its-kind partnership to bring the games to more people across more screens. “In the first of these digitally focussed deals offering exclusive and differentiated content to mobile operators across Europe, TIM’s customers will gain exclusive access and will be the first to every compelling story of the Olympic Games,” Discovery says.
Paolo Pescatore, Director, Multiplay and Media at the analyst firm CCS Insight, says this is an opportunity for TIM to differentiate its content offer. “This gives TIM plentiful opportunities to attract new subscribers. For Discovery, it is a strong endorsement of its Official Mobile broadcast offering first announced at this year’s Mobile World Congress and importantly, a crucial way to grow its presence in Europe. Sports is one of the few genres driving users to watch live TV.”
He continues: “We believe that this partnership will lead to a frenzy among European telcos to secure a similar exclusive agreement. It reiterates our belief that it is an exciting time to be a content and media owner. More and more people are watching video on mobile devices and we firmly believe that the next Olympic Games will break all usage records from those watching and accessing content on their smartphones, tablets and other connected devices like VR.”
