By Emily Goddard

IMG Media has been awarded the in-flight and in-ship broadcasting rights for Sochi 2014 ©IMGJanuary 29 - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded IMG Media the in-flight and in-ship media rights for the Sochi 2014 Olympics.

The deal will see the firm, which is a division of global sports, fashion and media company IMG, broadcasting more than 60 hours of coverage from the Games on its 24/7 live sports channel, Sport 24.

Nearly 50 hours will be live coverage, including the main men's and women's skiing and snowboarding events, and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies on February 7 and 23 respectively.

"Our broadcast objective is to reach the widest possible global audience with each edition of the Olympic Games," Vincent Chupin, vice-president of television and audio visual rights at IOC Television and Marketing, said.

"By working with IMG Media we are pleased we will also be able to bring extensive and live daily coverage of the Sochi Games to audiences on airlines and ships worldwide."

Sport 24 - whose airline partners include KLM, Emirates, Air France and Lufthansa and cruise line partners include P&O Cruises, Cunard and Carnival - will also show action from the Barclays Premier League, Formula One, the Bundesliga and the Giro d'Italia during 2014, and IMG Media senior vice-president Richard Wise welcomed the new deal with the Winter Olympics.

"The Sochi Olympics is the pinnacle for winter sports athletes and the Games promises to be a feast of top action," said Richard Wise, senior vice-president of IMG Media.

"We are delighted that we will be growing the global audience for such a prestigious event to include passengers in the air and on the seas, through our relationships with airlines and cruise liners and our live Sport 24 channel."

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