The BBC has announced a new rights deal that secures the broadcast rights of the Olympic Games up to and including Brisbane 2032, ensuring that the events remain free-to-air for the widest possible audience.

The new joint partnership with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will bring comprehensive coverage of the Olympic Games and all the major moments on TV, radio, online and digital to audiences across the UK.

With the Olympic Games’ huge popularity with audiences, BBC Sport’s coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games saw a record-breaking 104 million requests to watch the action online throughout its duration.

The new agreement secures the same package of rights for the BBC to continue offering extensive live and on-demand coverage of the Olympic Games across all broadcast platforms up to and including the Olympic Games Brisbane 2032.

Commenting on the rights renewal, EBU director general, Noel Curran, said: “By working together, public service broadcasters have the potential to bring the Olympic Games to over 1 billion people across the continent free-to-air. No other media brand can guarantee so much multi-platform exposure to so many people.”

The partnership was agreed following the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) launch of a competitive tender.

The EBU and Warner Bros. Discovery presented a common project to acquire all media rights across 49 territories in Europe for the 2026 Games in Milan Cortina, 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, 2023 Winter Olympics and 2032 Games hosted in Brisbane.

The BBC’s existing agreement will finish at the end of Paris 2024, which includes TV, radio, and digital rights of the event.

The news comes after Qatar expressed interest in hosting the 2036 Summer Olympic Games.