Mexico's Top Broadcasters Forgo Airing Rio Olympics

By Anthony Harrup 

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's biggest television broadcasters, Grupo Televisa SAB and TV Azteca SAB, will take a pass on airing the Olympic Games in Brazil after failing to reach an agreement to buy the rights from América Móvil SAB, company officials said Friday.

América Móvil, the region's biggest telecommunications company controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim, won exclusive broadcast rights for Latin America, except Brazil, from the International Olympic Committee in 2013. It has resold exhibition rights to broadcasters across the region but not to the biggest Mexican television companies.

"We didn't reach an agreement," said América Móvil spokesman Arturo Elías Ayub, who declined to give details. The games are set to take place in August in Rio de Janeiro.

A Televisa spokesman confirmed the broadcaster won't air the Olympic Games but said it would provide news coverage of the event. Azteca had no immediate comment.

Televisa and Azteca between them control more than 90% of Mexico's free-to-air broadcast television. The Olympics will be carried on two government-owned broadcast television channels, as well as on pay TV systems and online via América Móvil's Claro Sports website, Mr. Elias Ayub said.

Mexicans show greater interest in the soccer World Cup than in the Olympics, in which the country isn't a major medal winner. The lack of live coverage is unlikely to have an impact on the broadcasters' earnings.

Televisa's coverage of the London Olympics in the third quarter of 2012 pushed up costs without generating additional revenue growth, the company said at the time. Azteca had a 14% rise in programming and production costs that quarter while its domestic advertising sales rose 6%.

América Móvil and other companies controlled by Mr. Slim resumed advertising early last year with Televisa and Azteca after a four-year absence that began with disputes over TV advertising rates and telephone interconnection rates.

The agreements came after years of acrimony surrounding Mr. Slim's efforts to break into the Mexican television market and Televisa's expansion into telecommunications, offering broadband Internet and phone service on its cable systems.

América Móvil provides cable TV service across Latin America with 21.9 million subscribers but has been denied authorization in Mexico given unit Telmex's dominant position in the fixed-line market. Televisa is Mexico's biggest cable and satellite TV provider with 11.8 million subscribers.

Write to Anthony Harrup at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 06, 2016 17:23 ET (21:23 GMT)

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