Richard Carrion, the chairman of the IOC's Finance Commission, said: "In this economic climate, I don't see us moving forward quickly because all the prognostications we are seeing are that advertising will be down.

 

"I doubt very much this is a good time to begin talking. ... I don't see us being very active on this right now."

 

The four candidates to host the 2016 Olympics are Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo.

 

Carrion said: "In that sense, it removes some of the uncertainty which may work to our advantage or not."

 

The IOC will be selling the broadcast rights in a package for both the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Olympics.

 

Traditionally, the IOC has negotiated the rights before the Host City is known, but the recession has changed the approach this time.

 

The networks would also rather wait to know if the Olympics will be on home soil in Chicago.

 

Carrion said: "They always prefer to wait.

 

"It's a matter of eliminating uncertainty.

 

"It's much easier to formulate a bid if you know exactly where the two places are going to be."

 

The Summer Olympics haven't been held in the United States since Atlanta in 1996.

 

If Chicago gets the Games, the IOC could expect much higher bids from the U.S. networks.

 

Carrion said he has spoken only informally with US networks, including NBC, ABC-ESPN and Fox, about the next round of bidding.

 

He said: "Right now I think the whole mood is very negative on the economy and the advertising market is scheduled to go down."

 

Due to the nine-hour time difference with the US East Coast, the Sochi Winter Games are not particularly attractive to the American networks.

 

Among the 2016 finalists, Tokyo and Madrid would pose big time differences, while Rio would be just one hour ahead.

 

The previous U.S. rights negotiations took place in June 2003 before Vancouver had been awarded the 2010 Winter Games and London had secured the 2012 Summer Olympics.

 

NBC beat out Fox and ESPN/ABC in a $2.2 billion (£1.4 billion) deal.

 

In 1995, NBC obtained the rights to five Olympics from 2000 to 2008 in a pair of deals worth a total of $3.5 billion (£2.3 billion).

 

Carrion believes the same networks, and possibly others, will bid for the next round.

 

He said: "We certainly expect to see NBC back.

 

"They've indicated that they'd like to be back.

 

"Other people have publicly said they would be interested."

 

Last week, the IOC rejected a bid from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), an umbrella body of public broadcasters that had held Olympic rights for more than 50 years.

 

The IOC is looking to raise more money through deals with individual and private networks.