News International’s exclusive Olympic coverage threatened
News International’s exclusive access to Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls in the run up to the 2012 Games is under threat following the hacking scandal that closed the News of the World.
Team 2012 – a partnership between Locog, British Olympic Association, British Paralympic Association and UK Sport set up to support British athletes – says the deal, though not terminated, is under review.
The newspaper business signed a deal with Team 2012, and “presenting partner” Visa in January to run campaigns and stories aimed at building support for the 1,200 athletes that make up the team.
News Int papers The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and News of the World were to include articles telling athletes’ personal stories and preparation ahead of the event.
A spokeswoman for Team 2012, however, says the closure of News of the World means the “contract can no longer be fulfilled as originally envisaged”.
She adds: “All parties in the joint venture remain totally committed to Team 2012 and are working to make sure that we continue to give the 1,200+ athletes from Team 2012 Visa the best chance of achieving success by competing for Team GB and Paralympics GB at London 2012. To help drive national support for Team 2012 we are now exploring media partnerships across a range of channels.”