Eurosport has been awarded the European television rights for the Olympic Games from 2022 onwards.
The Discovery-owned company has agreed a £920m deal for pan-European rights to the Games, which will come into effect in Europe from 2018, and the UK in 2022.
The Olympics are currently shown in the UK by the BBC, but the broadcaster will now need to negotiate with Discovery to lease back some of the rights.
"Part of our approach will be to strive to work with some of the best Olympic broadcast players," Discovery chief executive David Zaslav told The Guardian.
"The BBC will have the chance to sub-licence some of the rights. We'll open up those discussions in every market.
"We want to give them the opportunity to sub-licence. In some markets we will run free to air, pay TV and all devices and in others we'll partner with others."
Discovery has said that it is committed to broadcasting a minimum of 200 hours of the Olympic Games and 100 hours of the Winter Games on free-to-air television.
