LONDON (AP) - The International Olympic Committee chastised U.S. Olympic officials on Thursday for "unilaterally" launching their own television network, warning the project could jeopardize relations with Olympic broadcaster NBC.
The IOC accused the U.S. Olympic Committee of acting hastily by announcing plans Wednesday for the "U.S. Olympic Network," which is scheduled to go on air next year after the Vancouver Winter Games with Comcast as broadcast partner.
"We were aware that the USOC had been considering a new 'Olympic broadcast network', but we have never been presented with a plan, and we had assumed that we would have an opportunity to discuss unresolved questions together before the project moved forward," the IOC said in a statement from Lausanne, Switzerland.
"It is for this reason that the IOC is disappointed that USOC acted unilaterally and, in our view, in haste by announcing their plans before we had had a chance to consider together the ramifications."
The IOC said the venture "raises complex legal and contractual issues and could have a negative impact on our relationships with other Olympic broadcasters and sponsors, including our U.S. TV partner, NBC."
NBC holds the U.S. broadcast rights through the 2012 London Olympics. The network acquired the rights to the Vancouver and London Games in 2003 in a deal worth $2.2 billion. NBC is also expected to be among the U.S. networks bidding for rights to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi and 2016 Summer Games.
"The IOC is seeking additional information on USOC's plans and remain hopeful that we can work through the issues and reach a solution that works for all the many partners involved and for the American public in particular," the IOC said.
The IOC and USOC have had tense relations in recent years, particularly over the contentious issue of the USOC's share of Olympic revenues.
The statement was issued following a conference call between IOC president Jacques Rogge and Richard Carrion, head of the IOC finance commission and negotiator of U.S. television rights deals.
If unresolved, the dispute could hang over Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics. Chicago is competing against Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, with the IOC to select the host city Oct. 2 in Copenhagen.
The U.S. Olympic Network project had been in negotiation in the U.S. for more than two years. The USOC says the network is a way to keep Olympic sports in front of viewers outside the period of the games. The project is intended to be of particular benefit to smaller sports that struggle to find air time outside of the Olympics.
The USOC said the network will air archival footage, news shows and small-sports coverage.
Timo Lumme, the IOC's director of television and marketing, sent a letter to USOC chief operating officer Norman Bellingham on Tuesday urging the USOC to reconsider plans to announce the venture.
"For the record, the IOC has neither authorized nor approved, and has serious concerns about, the launch of such a network," Lumme said in the letter, obtained by The Associated Press.
"The IOC retains certain approvals and controls over the use and sublicense of Olympic marks and/or historical Olympic Games footage in the United States," he said. "The USOC should not proceed on the assumption that any such approvals will be granted, or any such controls waived, by the IOC."
IOC officials said Rogge and USOC chairman Larry Probst discussed the proposal by phone last Friday. The IOC said it never signed off on the idea.
"Given the short notice you have chosen to give to the IOC to consider the USOC's plans, and the lack of any real information about those plans, this letter should not be read as a complete list of the IOC's concerns or of the IOC's rights and remedies," Lumme said.
Bellingham said Wednesday the IOC has long been aware of the USOC's intentions to start a new network, something he and others at the USOC have been talking about publicly for nearly three years.
Of the IOC complaints, he said, "to say they caught us by surprise is an understatement."
"We firmly believe that what we're doing with this network is in the best interest of the Olympic movement," Bellingham said. "This is something that's going to deliver great value to them. It speaks to the ideals of the movement. There's nothing out there that does that on a year-round basis."
---
AP National Writer Eddie Pells in Denver contributed to this report.