September 9 - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) now expects the sum raised from broadcasting rights for the Olympic cycle encompassing the Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 Games to top $4.1 billion (£2.6 billion/€3.1 billion), Timo Lumme, the television and marketing director, told members today.
This figure compares with a final total of $3.85 billion (£2.45 billion/€2.91 billion) for the Vancouver 2010-London 2012 Olympic cycle, and demonstrates the Movement's resilience in the face of the economic and financial problems that have been afflicting much of the world.
It also, however, represents a marked slowdown from the near 50 per cent rate of growth achieved from this key revenue source in 2009-2012, when set against 2005-2008.
As such, it probably presages a future slowdown in the rate of growth of distributions to other branches of the Olympic Movement.
Instead, the main engine of growth for the Movement in the present Olympic quadrennium looks set to be local marketing revenues, which go towards financing the organisational costs of the specific edition of the Games to which they relate.
A handful of 2013-2016 broadcasting deals have still to be agreed, with outstanding territories including the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa and, insofar as Rio 2016 alone is concerned, Australia.
Lumme told the IOC that discussions were under way in all outstanding regions.
Turning to London 2012, Lumme described the Games as "a significant moment in Olympic broadcast history".
He added: "The London Games demonstrated clearly that viewers no longer consume the Games on television alone."