Viewers complain after rights-holder Discovery puts majority of events behind paywall

The BBC has received a large number of complaints about the lack of live Tokyo Olympics coverage on its channels, after viewers failed to realise that the International Olympic Committee had sold the majority of UK television rights to pay-TV company Discovery.

During the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics, the BBC was able to offer dozens of free livestreams of different sports, revolutionising the way British viewers watched the games and providing much needed publicity to niche events that would not normally have enjoyed their moment in the public eye.