Olympics-German broadcaster ARD critical of IOC television deals

BERLIN, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had over-estimated the value of television contracts, German broadcaster ARD said.

The criticism came after the IOC rejected the European Broadcasting Union's (EBU) bid for the 2014 and 2016 Games rights last month.

"The IOC's ideas of the commercial value of TV rights are exaggerated," ARD programme director Volker Herres told the Handelsblatt newspaper on Tuesday.

He said the IOC's refusal to sell the rights to the EBU would turn out to be a strategic mistake.

The IOC rejected an EBU bid on behalf of European public broadcasters for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2016 Summer Games, saying it could get more money on separate deals with individual countries.

The host of the 2016 Olympics will be chosen later this year.

The IOC decision means Games television rights in some countries will be sold to subscription channels that will have an obligation to make some coverage available for free-to-air channels.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned pay-TV channel Sky Italia has already snapped up the rights for the 2014 and 2016 Games, while Murdoch's Fox Turkey won the rights for Turkey.

The EBU, the largest association of national broadcasters in the world with 75 active members, already owns the rights for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and the 2012 London Olympics, having paid just over $700 million.

The IOC's biggest source of revenue is broadcasting rights deals which are expected to bring in close to $4 billion for the next two-Games period of 2010-2012.

Herres said ARD and fellow public broadcaster ZDF routinely covered Olympic sports between the Games but that would not be the case if state broadcasters lost out on the rights.

"Should (public broadcasters) lose the rights to the Games several smaller sports would be affected," Herres said. "Should we lose the TV rights for (the) 2014 and 2016 Olympics, we would review our involvement for each sport between the Games."