Broadcasters jostle for Olympic Games rights

The Nine Network is gearing up for a bid for the new Olympic rights package following next year's Games in London, with MD Jeff Browne boldly predicting it will win the deal, saye the Wall Street Journal.

Browne's comments come ahead of a high-powered meeting in Switzerland of US television executives pitching to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the rights to cover the 2014 and 2016 Olympics - a deal expected to be worth more than $2 billion.

The IOC has held off making deals for any other markets, including Australia, until the US deal for the 2014 and 2016 Games is struck - a move that could come as early as this week.

NBC's Olympic reign could end today in a hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, when it faces ESPN and Fox in an auction for the rights to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, according to the New York Times.

They are familiar opponents from eight years ago, when NBC handily outbid them for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and next year's Summer Olympics in London.

The IOC would certainly like to repeat the no-doubt-about-it outcome of eight years ago, when NBC's $2.2 billion bid (including its parent company General Electric's Olympic sponsorship) beat Fox's $1.3 billion offer.