The IOC said RTVE was awarded the rights across all platforms, including free television, subscription TV, radio, Internet and mobile phones.

The agreement covers the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and 2016 Summer Olympics, whose host city will be selected by the IOC next month.

Madrid are on four bidders along with Chicago, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

It is the first time the IOC has negotiated rights directly in Spain after their deal with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) ended, and brings the total in European rights fees to date for 2014 and 2016 to $692 million (£422 million).

Jacques Rogge, the President of the IOC, said: "We are delighted to be continuing our relationship with RTVE, who have done a fantastic job for many years promoting the magic of the Olympic Games across Spain and helping to promote Olympic sports."

Corporación Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) was founded in 1937 as Radio Nacional de España (RNE -- Spanish National Radio) from the city of Salamanca and originally served as a propaganda tool for the Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War.

It would later be used by Francisco Franco to broadcast his message to the Spanish public during his 39 year reign as dictator from 1936 to 1975.

It has evolved into its modern organisation through a series of restructurings and mergers.

Because of the worldwide economic crisis, negotiations on the lucrative United States rights have been postponed until after October 2 when the IOC will choose the host city to follow London 2012 and host the 2016 Olympics at its Session in Copenhagen.

The IOC last year broke off its long-standing deal with the EBU, an umbrella body of public broadcasters that had held Olympic rights for more than 50 years.

In February, the IOC awarded European rights for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics to the Sportfive marketing agency in a deal worth $342 million (£208.5 million).

That agreement covered 40 countries in Europe, although the biggest markets, Britain, France and Germany, will be negotiated separately.

Separate deals with Sky Italia in Italy and FOX Turkey brought in an additional $250 million (£152 million).

The IOC hopes to surpass a total for Europe of $1.2 billion (£732 million), a big increase on the $800 million (£488 million) from the current deal with the EBU for the 2010 and 2012 Olympics.

Last week, the IOC awarded the 2014 and 2016 broadcast rights in Brazil to TV Globo and two other companies in a deal worth $210 million (£128 million).


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