US television rights battle set to rage

Describing the Olympics as the last refuge of family viewing in the United States, Dick Ebersol, the head of NBC Universal Sports, said the network is ready to battle for American broadcast rights to the 2014 and 2016 Games. International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge had signaled that after several false starts the IOC was finally prepared begin negotiating a deal for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. A fragile economic climate in the United States had prompted the IOC to delay the start of negotiations. The IOC president said in July that bidding could be put off until after the 2012 Olympics in London because of the uncertainty of the American economy.