The figure is included in the IOC’s financial statements for the year to December 31, 2015, which were discussed at the recent IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro.

The channel - widely seen as the most significant development to come out of IOC President Thomas Bach’s Olympic Agenda 2020 reform initiative - was launched immediately after the Rio 2016 Closing Ceremony on August 21.

Available via mobile apps for Android and iOS devices and at olympicchannel.com, it is regarded as a key element in the Movement’s push to engage more young people and spark interest in Olympism year-round.

The $11.15 million cost, revealed in a Note covering “promotion of the Olympic Movement”, will presumably be significantly higher in 2016.

The channel, which is being sponsored by the Japanese groups Bridgestone and Toyota, has a fully-funded budget of $490 million (£370 million/€443 million) for its first seven years.

Content is to include coverage of sports events such as Taiwanese junior and cadet open table tennis on August 27 and 28, and the last round of Olympic ice hockey qualifiers in early September.