Cleary Gottlieb represented the International Olympic Committee (“IOC”) in the licensing to the European Broadcast Union (“EBU”) of broadcast rights for the 2010/2012 Olympic Games. The license agreement, signed today in Athens, provides for royalty payments, profit sharing and promotional and other commitments by the EBU valued at almost €700 million. The IOC awarded the license to the EBU following a public tender process launched in March 2004 that included parallel one-on-one negotiations with several of the bidders that submitted binding offers to the IOC for the broadcast rights. Cleary also advised the IOC in connection with the tender process.
The EBU is a professional organization of national broadcasters in more than 50 countries of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.