Discovery May Charge TV Viewers to Watch Some Olympics Sports
- Media company has European broadcast rights from 2018 to 2024
- ‘Olympics will be profitable for us,’ CEO Zaslav says
Great Britain team in action during four-man bobsleigh practice at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
Photographer: Alex Livesey/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Discovery Communications Inc. is considering charging Olympics fans in Europe to watch niche sports like bobsledding and speed skating, part of an effort to squeeze more profit out of the games and test its growing direct-to-consumer business.
“If you want all the judo, you get it, but you pay for it,” Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference Thursday in New York. “That’s what we’re looking at.”