OBS Chief Concerned for Rio 2016 Broadcast Center -- On the Scene

(ATR) The head of Olympic Broadcasting Services says Rio 2016 cannot afford any further delays in the delivery of the IBC for the Games.

"It is a concern, the deliverability," Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of the Olympic host broadcast organization, tells Around the Rings in Monaco where he is attending IOC meetings.

Exarchos admitted that the original finish date was August 2015, with OBS reluctantly forced to set a new deadline following construction delays.

Asked how far Rio 2016’s IBC was languishing behind London 2012’s broadcast center at the corresponding period before the Games, he said "normally" delivery of the huge building project was "12 months before" the Olympics.

The Greek, a top executive for all Olympic host broadcasters since Athens 2004, said Oct. 31 was the new deadline for delivery.

"This is the target now. Anything beyond that is not a risk we would like to take," he added.

"We are having good discussions with the organizing committee to find a solution ... to speed things up," he said.

Exarchos said OBS needed over seven months to install cabling and broadcast studios in the IBC, underlining that was a challenging timeframe.

His comments come a month after Gilbert Felli, the IOC’s Rio 2016 troubleshooter, told ATR the IBC – the most complex venue for the Games – would be "tough to deliver."

Exarchos reported considerable progress on the IBC project in recent months and said officials from TV and radio organizations who attended a Rio 2016 broadcasters’ summit in August had been "impressed" with Olympic preparations.

Reported by Mark Bissonin Monte Carlo

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