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Rogers declines offer to bid on Olympics

Rogers Communications won’t be bidding for the Canadian broadcast rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games with CTV, its partner in previous coverage of one of the world’s most-watched sporting events.

TORONTO — Rogers Communications won’t be bidding for the Canadian broadcast rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games with CTV, its partner in previous coverage of one of the world’s most-watched sporting events.

The president of Rogers’ media division, Keith Pelley, announced Thursday that “scheduling conflicts, combined with our financial priorities, suggest that it’s best for us not to be involved at this time.”

CTV has been the majority partner in a consortium that gave the two broadcasters exclusive rights to Olympic content for both the Vancouver Winter Games last year and the Beijing Summer Games in 2008.

“This was a difficult decision on so many levels, but it’s a disciplined approach that allows us to pursue new opportunities to best serve our viewers, shareholders and advertisers,” Pelley said in a release.

Rogers, which owns the Sportsnet cable channels as well as the CityTV and Omni television stations, is still part of the Canadian broadcast consortium that will air the 2012 Summer Games from London.

The original agreement for the Olympics had Rogers as a 20 per cent stakeholder in the consortium, with CTV holding the other 80 per cent interest.

However, the structure of CTV’s ownership changed earlier this year when the broadcaster shifted back into the hands of Bell Media, part of BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE).

That meant Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX:RCI.B) would have been partnering with its main competitor in telecommunications and sports media.

Rogers Cable competes with BCE’s Bell Canada for Internet and phone customers while Rogers and Bell are No. 1 and 2 in wireless customer bases, respectively. CTV’s holdings include a national TV network, local television affiliates and the TSN sports channels.

Rogers’ exit opens up the possibility that another bidder could take its place, or that Rogers could return to the table with a new partner.

Shaw Communications (TSX:SJR.B), based in Calgary, would be one of the most obvious contenders because it owns Global, while the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corp. has handled Olympic coverage in the past.

CTV could also take full ownership of the coverage, which would allow it to air content across its TSN sports networks as well as Bell mobile phones and Internet.