Olympics on television

The Olympic Games have been broadcast on television since the 1930s.

The 1936 games, held in Berlin, Germany, were televised by means of closed circuit television to various viewing halls located across the city.

The BBC provided coverage of the games on their television service, live from Wembley Stadium. Coverage was limited to the London area.

Television service was introduced to Australia in time for the 1956 Games in Melbourne. International broadcasting institutions present were BBC, CBS, NBC, Eurovision and United Press. The first time broadcasting rights were sold.

RAI introduced the first Winter Games coverage ever, and the first Olympic one extended to both national and international audience. The broadcasts were relayed live via Eurovision to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

In England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, ITV covered the Summer Olympic Games 1968, 1972, 1976 and 1980. An industrial dispute prevented coverage of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics but the Games returned to ITV screens in 1988, sharing the coverage with Channel 4 - Channel 4 showing the overnight and breakfast coverage with ITV covering the daytime action as well as broadcasting early evening highlights programmes. The 1988 Olympics were the last time that the Games have been shown on ITV with subsequent Olympic Games being shown only on the BBC. ITV has never broadcast the Winter Olympics.

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