Why does the BBC allow Olympic chiefs to restrict its broadcasting?

Earlier this month a Judge blocked the transmission of a BBC documentary he later suggested could impact on a trial he was hearing, the result was an outpouring of angst from media outlets, including many BBC staff.

At a corporate level the BBC was so outraged it was prepared to challenge the ruling at expense to the Licence Fee Payer.

After the ban was lifted the BBC said in a statement:

“As makers of current affairs programmes we felt this was a critical point regarding the freedom of the media to discuss matters that are of general public interest.”

Compare that defiant stance with today’s fawning, ‘ever so grateful’ report that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has ‘allowed’ the BBC to distribute news content outside the UK and on iPlayer.

How and why did the BBC negotiate itself into a rights contract that forbade it from carrying out its core obligation to inform the nation and world?

And why, given those restrictions, has the BBC decided to broadcast current affairs programming from IOC controlled sites when doing so allows a foreign entity to censor & restrict its output?

About Martin Hoscik

Martin has written about TV, film, telecoms and technology for more than 20 years and has previously contributed to several consumer magazines, as well as commentating on TV and radio about the UK's media industry. He is currently the editor of STREAMEDTV and sister site SEENIT.