The Beijing Olympics might still be some months away but the controversy over broadcasting rights have already started to crop up. Such controversies are not that uncommon in a global market where lucrative sponsorship deals and collaborations with top global companies form the bulk of funds. But the strange thing is that Communist China too seems to have been caught in the trap.
In 2005, Sohu lashed out a reported $30 million for the rights to set up the Games website for the Beijing Olympics organizing committee and to use the logo of the event. That multi-million pouring out came as a huge surprise in a country where the media usually serves rather than challenge the government, where human rights are still a matter of debate and where the Communist government is the ultimate decider of everything.
Now two years down the line, the financial tug-of-wag has raised its ugly head in the fastest growing economy in the world. The Chinese portal company now alleges that along with the website and logo rights, it procured the exclusive rights to host all the advertising by Beijing Games sponsors bearing the official logo.
The rival portal companies in China are obviously frustrated at this new revelation. Should Sohu’s stance be indeed true, then that would give Sohu effective monopoly on lucrative ads from firms such as Adidas and Bank of China. Indeed such monopolization in China is not that uncommon and the subtle irony over the entire situation can hardly be missed here.
The internet industry in China is a fast developing market even under the watchful eyes of the nation’s Communist leaders and the competition is quite stiff. Internal sponsorship is a novel approach taken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this time and Sohu’s rivals are quite eager to wrestle the rights from them.
Sohu’s rivals are adamant that the most established portal company in China doesn’t have exclusive rights to the sponsorships deals. The IOC is yet to make any decision on this issue and for the time being, the controversy drags on.
Image Source: BBC
Source: Yahoo News
