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ARD and ZDF have submitted a joint bid of around 90 million euros (76.4 million pounds) for the rights to broadcast the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2016 Summer Games in Germany, magazine Der Spiegel said Monday.

The German broadcasters were forced to make an offer after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rejected the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) umbrella bid for the two-Games package, opting instead to negotiate individual deals for better terms.

Germany, Spain, France and the United Kingdom will be handled by the IOC while all other European territories have been awarded to sports agency SPORTFIVE, picked ahead of EBU.

Der Spiegel said pay-TV service SKY Germany, was also in the running, having bid more than 100 million euros for the rights to the two Games.

The decision to reject the EBU bid angered ARD and ZDF, who are members of the 59-year-old confederation and been the traditional broadcasters of the Olympics.

The IOC rejected the EBU bid for the Sochi 2014 Games and the 2016 Olympics, saying it could get more money on separate deals with individual countries.

Russia's Sochi will host the 2014 Games while the host of the 2016 Olympics will be selected on October 2 with Tokyo, Chicago, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid bidding to stage the event.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned pay-TV channel Sky Italia has already snapped up the rights for the 2014 and 2016 Games, while Murdoch's Fox Turkey won the rights for Turkey.

The EBU, the largest association of national broadcasters in the world with 75 active members, already owns the rights for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and the 2012 London Olympics, having paid more than $700 million (415.5 million pounds).

The IOC's biggest source of revenue is broadcasting rights deals, which are expected to bring in close to $4 billion for the next two-Games period of 2010-2012.

(Source: Reuters)