NetEase, Sina and Tencent have each bought online broadcasting rights from CCTV.com, giving them access to footage of all Olympic events. A month ago, Sohu unveiled its own deal with CCTV.com, the official internet and mobile broadcast partner, to offer footage online. The deals are significant within the online sector as the major portals are all trying to offer in-depth Olympics coverage to pull in users.
While Sohu has sold itself as the official partner of the Games, rival portals are keen to offer advertisers Olympics-based content. Sohu has been the official online content sponsor of the Beijing Games since 2005, but earlier this year it emerged that that agreement did not include online video. Those rights were handed to CCTV.com, which has since been selling them on to online video operators.
The development comes after a proposed deal between CCTV to sell the rights to Tudou collapsed.
China portals clear up Olympic coverage
BEIJING - Three of the mainland's biggest internet portals have jointly announced plans to offer online video coverage of the Olympics in opposition to official website Sohu.
