Olympics broadcasts to cost Sports channel NIS 3 million

The Sports channel will be spending about NIS 3 million on its Olympics broadcasting, TheMarker has learned. It will transmit a total of about 700 hours of live programming on its five channels, amounting to about 50 hours of live coverage every day.

The channel paid about NIS 1.3 million to the Israel Broadcasting Authority for the broadcast rights, which include Internet and mobile content broadcasts in addition to television coverage. Among the sports that will be shown are basketball, soccer, handball, volleyball, weight lifting and wrestling.

About NIS 1.5 million of the channel's spending on the games is going to cover production costs. The amount will pay for the construction of an additional broadcast studio, sending a delegation to Beijing that includes sports anchor Miri Nevo as well as camera and production teams and dozens of production staffers. The direct broadcasts will be transmitted via 12 satellites, two of them using high-definition technology, and from four different broadcast rooms.

"The Sports channel has made unprecedented preparations for the Olympic broadcasts in order to bring our viewers the added value of the channel," Sports channel CEO Avi Bar said. "I am convinced that the bar set by the Sports channel for the broadcasts of these Olympic Games, in terms of both quality and quantity, will redefine the way major sporting events are broadcast in Israel," Bar said.