Beginning with the Olympic Games of 2008, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has created Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) to serve as the Official Broadcaster for the Olympics (OBO) for future Olympic Games.

The IOC has requested that the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) use OBS as the OBO for the Games.

BOCOG and OBS have determined that, rather than have OBS serve alone as the OBO for the Games, the functions and responsibilities of the OBO, in the case of Beijing, can best be carried out through a Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture, established under PRC laws, managed by OBS in accordance with the Cooperative Joint Venture Contract, the Articles of Association, and the Master Operating and Management Agreement. Accordingly, BOCOG and OBS have established Beijing Olympic Broadcasting (BOB) as a cooperative joint venture to perform the role of the OBO.

Mr Jiang, Executive Vice-President of BOCOG, was elected as Board Chairman of BOB, Coordination Commission Chairman Mr. Hein Verbruggen is the Vice Board Chairman of BOB while Mr. Manolo Romero, Head of Olympic Broadcasting Service, was appointed as CEO of BOB. Mr. Ma Guoli, Head of Sports at CCTV, operates BOB as COO.

Since its formation in 2004, BOB was quick to recruit its management team. By 1 April, it has recruited 240 staff, a number that will grow to 4,000 at Games-time.. BOB will use around 60 outside broadcast vans, 1000 cameras, building an over 80,000 m2 IBC to produce approximately 4000 hours of live Olympic coverage. An audience of over 40 billion cumulative worldwide will watch the Games.