The German public broadcasters were forced to make an offer after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rejected the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) umbrella bid for the two-Games package, opting instead to negotiate individual deals for better terms.

 

 

Germany, Spain, France and the United Kingdom, Europe's biggest and most lucrative markets, will be handled by the IOC while all other European territories have been awarded to sports agency Sportfive, picked ahead of EBU.

 

Pay TV service Sky Germany, are also in the running, having bid more than €100 million (£85 million) for the rights to the two Games

 

The decision to reject the EBU bid angered ARD and ZDF, who are members of the 59-year-old confederation and been the traditional broadcasters of the Olympics.

 

The IOC rejected the EBU bid for the Sochi 2014 Games and the 2016 Olympics, saying it could get more money on separate deals with individual countries.

 

Russia's Sochi will host the 2014 Games while the host of the 2016 Olympics will be selected on October 2 with Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo bidding to stage the event.

 

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 more than $700 million (£413 million).

 

The IOC's biggest source of revenue is broadcasting rights deals, which are expected to bring in close to $4 billion (£2.3 billion) for the next two-Games period of 2010-2012.