Olympics-ESPN acquires S. American rights for 2010/12 Games

BERLIN, Nov 12 (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded the South American broadcast rights for the 2010 and the 2012 Olympic Games to U.S. broadcaster ESPN, the IOC said on Thursday.

"ESPN will acquire free-to-air television and radio broadcast rights in Argentina for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games and the London 2012 (summer Games), including minimum free-to-air exposure guarantees," it said.

The U.S. broadcaster also got pay television rights to air the Games on cable and satellite platforms in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay for the same period and satellite-only television rights in Venezuela for the same period.

No financial details of the deal were disclosed.

(Writing by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Justin Palmer; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)