Dentsu announced that it had acquired the domestic broadcasting rights for International Amateur Athletic Federation sponsored events including the World Athletics Championships and World Cup. The cost of the acquisition was 8 – 9 billion yen, and the term is for 10 years between 2000 and 2009 covering a total of 47 events. The broadcasting rights include satellite, cable and radio in addition to terrestrial broadcasting. Dentsu has already sold broadcasting rights for the 4 years up to 2003 to TBS. After that, TBS has also been granted preferential negotiation rights. Dentsu has boosted its business in the acquiring of long term sport broadcasting rights and selling them on to domestic broadcasters. It already has a successful track record in US Major League professional baseball and the Italian professional soccer league (Serie A).

Dentsu Inc. (President: Yutaka Narita, head office: Tokyo, capital: 54.9 billion, 29.6 million yen) signed a contract with the International Amateur Athletic Federation (Note 2) (IAAF: President Primo Nebiolo) for domestic broadcasting rights covering 47 events including the IAAF World Championship in Athletics (Note 1) on October 11.

With this acquisition of broadcasting rights, Dentsu is able to offer exclusive sale of broadcasting rights for IAAF events to domestic broadcasters. In future, Dentsu is looking to expand its business opportunities by developing a variety of broadcasting projects offering attractive global programming content in response to the multi-channel era.

The term of the contract is from 2000 to 2009. It covers a total of 47 events, including the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics and the IAAF World Cup in Athletics, and the details are as below.

– IAAF World Championships in Athletics (2001,2003, 2005, 2007,2009)
– IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009)
– IAAF World Cup in Athletics (2002, 2006)
– IAAF World Junior Championships (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008)
– IAAF World Cross County Championships (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
– IAAF World Road Relay Championships (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008)
– IAAF World Half Marathon Championships (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
– IAAF World Race Walking Cup (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009)