In 2012, the BBC for the first time gave us nearly complete coverage of the Olympics, but only by borrowing 20 channels of capacity on satellite and cable for events that did not merit a slot on the main BBC channels. Yet the BBC’s much-vaunted “triumph” needs to be seen in context: nearly all the production actually came from a consortium of European broadcasters, under the control of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) itself. Even the highly praised opening and closing ceremonies were supplied by an independent company: the BBC had no editorial input at all.

^{US media giant Discovery has caputred the rights across Europe to the Olympics (BBC)}

Now a US media giant, Discovery, has captured the rights across Europe to the Olympics from 2022, for a fee (nearly £1 billion) the BBC could not begin to contemplate. The BBC may or may not end up as a sub-contractor. The IOC requires Discovery to broadcast at least 200 hours of the summer Games, and 200 hours of the winter Games, free-to-air, so it may choose to convert some of its UK pay channels to free for those weeks, or team up with ITV, Channel 4, Five – or the BBC. The “listed events” requirements, where certain key sports are reserved for free-to-air broadcast, will be met, and are unlikely to prevent Discovery supplementing “free” hours with even more coverage on “pay” channels.

So viewers will be no worse off, and the BBC will actually save money: but its self-esteem, and its status in the eyes of viewers, will suffer. But as long as the BBC clings to a funding mechanism that condemns it to death by a thousand salami slices, rather than seizing the dynamic option of asking viewers to fund top-quality work through subscriptions, we should not waste too much sympathy on it.

David Elstein has been a senior executive at ITV, Sky and Channel Five