Abbreviation OBS | Region Worldwide | |
 | ||
Formation 2001; 16 years ago (2001) Parent organization | ||
Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) is an agency of the International Olympic Committee, established in 2001 to be responsible for providing the images of the Olympic Games to the rights-holding broadcasters, maintaining the standards of Olympic broadcasting between one edition and the next one.
Contents
Its first operation was in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Previously the host broadcaster role was delegated to the local organising committees or to third-party broadcasters, having to rebuild the broadcast operation in each edition. Its headquarters are in Madrid, Spain.
Beijing 2008
Its operations began with the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where Beijing Olympic Broadcasting, a joint venture between OBS and the Beijing Organizing Committee, acted as the host broadcasting consortium and the state television network, China Central Television which is one of the host nation broadcasters of the games.
Vancouver 2010
For the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, a wholly owned division, Olympic Broadcasting Services Vancouver, was set up. The executive director of OBSV is Nancy Lee, a former producer and executive for CBC Sports. The 2010 Olympics marked the first games where the host broadcasting facilities was provided solely by OBS.
London 2012
The 2012 Olympics and Paralympics were broadcast by the OBS. It is speculated that in the run-up to the 2012 Summer Olympics, an extra ring of security was put around the trailer of Danny Boyle (the ceremony director) following "friction" between his crew and Olympic Broadcasting Services. The home nation broadcaster was the BBC with Olympics specials.
Rio 2016
For the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazilian TV channels Rede Globo, Rede Record and Rede Bandeirantes were responsible for generating the international radio and TV signal. The NHK also started 8K TV experimental broadcast in order to improve technology for the 2020 Summer Olympics, because the Japanese public broadcaster will be the responsible for the Olympic broadcasting for the event.