The Beijing Olympics will be broadcast online to more than 70 territories using a dedicated YouTube channel in a bid to help deter illegal viewing of the event on the internet.

Beijing games organiser the International Olympic Committee is to launch an online channel on YouTube to provide a package of daily sports action to 77 international territories including India, the Republic of Korea and Iraq.

The channel, which goes live on Wednesday, will provide a selection of footage video-on-demand, with geo-blocking of access to limit viewing only to uers in each of the territories.

It will provide a package of coverage including highlights, news and daily clips of competitions during the 17 days of the Beijing Olympics, which start on Friday, August 8.

The YouTube Beijing Olympics channel is being made available in territories where digital video on demand rights have not been sold by the IOC or have been acquired on a non-exclusive basis.

"The IOC's priority is to ensure that as many people as possible get to experience the magic of the Olympic games," said Timo Lumme, director of TV and marketing services at the IOC.

"For the first time in Olympic history we will have complete global online coverage… the IOC's channel will make fantastic Olympic footage available where young generations of sports fans are already going for online entertainment."

Lumme added that the aim of the YouTube channel was to "complement" the footage offered in these territories by broadcast partners.

The IOC said that by offering an "abundance of freely available content" across multiple media platforms globally it believed it was "limiting the risk of piracy infringements".

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