Olympic channel to launch after Rio Games

The IOC will launch its new Olympic Channel next month following the closing ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Games.

The digital channel, which will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, will go live on Sunday, August 21, right after the ceremony, the International Olympic Committee announced Wednesday.

The Madrid-based channel is designed to promote Olympics sports between each games and engage with young audiences.

It will provide a mix of live sports coverage, historic Olympic footage from the IOC's archives, and news programming and highlights.

The channel does not cover the Olympics themselves, which are aired by rights holding broadcasters around the world.

The project, the brainchild of IOC President Thomas Bach, was approved by the full IOC in December 2014.

"The Olympic Channel will inspire us all and reach out to new generations of athletes and fans," Bach said.

The channel will be available worldwide via a mobile app and at the web site olympicchannel.com.

The IOC said in 2014 the channel would cost about $600 million to operate over the first seven years, with the goal of breaking even in the first decade.

The channel's commercial and marketing department is located in the IOC's home city of Lausanne, Switzerland, while the production is run from Madrid, headquarters of the Olympic Broadcasting Services.

The channel plans to produce about 250 hours of original programming and content over the first year. It now has a staff of more than 60 full-time employees from 20 countries working in Madrid.