IOC president hails "incredible" partnership with China Media Group

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Kirsty Coventry has lauded the committee's partnership with China Media Group (CMG), highlighting its pivotal role not only as a broadcaster, but as a cultural bridge that brings the Olympic spirit to life for hundreds of millions of viewers.

Earlier this month, CMG signed a long form agreement with the IOC granting exclusive rights to CMG to the broadcast of Olympic events in the Chinese mainland and Macao from 2026 to 2032.

In a program produced by CCTV-2, a TV channel under CMG, Coventry emphasized the transformative impact of CMG's coverage.

"CMG has been an incredible partner of ours. We reached close to 800 million viewership in China, and that is incredible. Our broadcasters really show us and challenge us and also come up with new opportunities on how we should broadcast, how we should be talking to people around the world about the Olympic Games, how we need to be agile, how we need to again come back and look at when we are broadcasting our feed, how that then gets distributed across the world," said the IOC president.

She noted that national broadcasters like CMG play a critical role in tailoring the Olympic narrative to reflect local values and traditions, while staying rooted in the universal ideals of the Games.

"We broadcast the best, foundational piece of the Games, and then it gets spread to the national broadcasters that then can input their own cultural norms into it. And that's what's really special about the Games. And this is where our broadcasters have done an incredible job, because they then make it their own product. And we're very grateful for our partnership with CMG," said Coventry.

According to the recently signed agreement, CMG will serve as the sole broadcaster for the upcoming two Olympic summer and winter games, including Milan 2026, Los Angeles 2028, the 2030 Winter Games in the Alps, and Brisbane 2032. It also covers the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympics and the 2030 Youth Olympics.

U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 224.23 points, or 0.48 percent, to 46,565.74. The S&P 500 added 46.8 points, or 0.72 percent, to 6,575.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased by 250.32 points, or 1.16 percent, to 21,840.95.

Eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in the green, with industrials and communication services leading the gainers by each going up 1.65 percent. Meanwhile, energy and consumer staples led the laggards by dropping 3.89 percent and 0.57 percent, respectively.