Sohu ready to expand Olympic coverage

(BEIJING, September 10) -- Sohu.com Inc., the Internet Content Services Sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, plans to use its high-technology to give real-time scoring and live text and photo coverage of the Olympics, according to a promotional meeting on Monday.

In addition, the company will bring millions of internet users to the scene of the Olympic competitions through forums, blogs and on and off-line activities.

Since being awarded the Olympic sponsorship, Sohu has obtained a series of exclusive resources and rights from the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) and All-China Sports Federation through its cooperation with the COC website under the General Administration of Sport. It has exclusively undertaken the construction of the official website of the 29th Olympiad, the official website of the 13th Paralympic Games, the official website of the Torch Relay of the Beijing Olympics, official website of the Good Luck Beijing Sport Events, in addition to the official website of the COC, the official website of the Chinese sport delegation, the official website of the All- China sports federation, including Olympic and non-Olympic sports, and the official website of the national teams of the Olympic sports, the personal official websites of 88 Chinese Olympians, so that Sohu's web resources fully cover the Olympic sport events, sport teams and athletes.

Xinhua New Agency has agreed to provide exclusive rights to Sohu.com Inc. in using all of Xinhua's reports on the Beijing Olympics and numerous special sport articles with national and international contents.

At the same time, Sohu.com Inc. has formed an Olympic coverage alliance featuring the strongest media lineup in China, including CCTV, the Beijing TV Station, 12 satellite TV stations across the country, 35 key print media, and up to 80 Chinese broadcast stations. Sohu has also built close cooperation ties with national and regional Olympic committees across the world.

As an Olympic sponsor, Sohu will launch a series of interactions under the Olympic themes through texts, photos, videos, forums and blogs. The topics include "Olympic Cheer Squads;" a TV anchormen's contest; a large charitable program entitled "Green Olympics, Green Inventions;" "My Olympics, My Collections;" a series of cheer campaigns for the Olympics; a series of guidelines for spectators; and "The Olympic Diary – We record 2008." Relying on the media alliance, Sohu will mobilize newspapers, magazines, broadcasting and TV stations to embark on trans-media communications with the aim of expanding its audience to an estimated 1.4 billion from 160 million internet users now.

In its pre-Games Olympic coverage plan unveiled on Monday, Sohu will devote all its strength to present itself as an Olympic portal, with emphasis not only on the Olympic competitions, but also on all aspects of the life of the Chinese people in the years of reform and opening-up, and on the diffusion of the Olympic spirit, by publicizing the "Green Olympics," "High-tech Olympics," and the "People's Olympics."

For its Games-time coverage, the company has formed a 700-strong special team, including a number of senior editors who master English, French, Spanish and Arabic, in addition to video and live talk show technicians and reporters. The multi-media coverage will certainly give the audience a new experience of the Olympic competitions.

"We are glad to see Sohu's creativity and exploratory spirit in the construction of the official website of the Olympic Games and the on-line coverage of the Olympics, and we are confident that the website will become an information channel linking the Olympics and the Chinese people, and a bridge of friendship between China and the world," said Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice-president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).

President and CEO of Sohu.com Inc. Charles Zhang promised to treat global internet users, spectators, sport fans, tourists, volunteers, the young generation, and the media to a "grand Olympic feast" in 2008. "Sohu staff are ready, our technologies and resources are ready, we are looking forward to the Olympics!" he said.

Present at the meeting were also Yuan Bin, director of the BOCOG Marketing Department, CCTV General Manager Wang Wenbin, Vice-director of Xihina Beijing Branch Su Huizhi, and several former Olympians or Olympic champions.