BEIJING - Swimming and most gymnastic finals will be held in the mornings at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the International Olympic Committee announced Thursday, in a partial concession to U.S. broadcaster NBC and its lucrative American television market.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge (2nd L) and president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games Liu Qi (L) visit the site of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games main stadium October 24, 2006. [Reuters]

The decision ends months of contentious, back-room negotiations between the IOC and TV broadcasters, whose purchase of television rights covers more than half the costs of staging the Olympics.

Aside from putting swimming and most gymnastics finals in the morning, the IOC decided that athletics finals will be held at night, while diving will be staged in the afternoon.

IOC President Jacques Rogge and members of the executive board reached agreement on the schedule in the last few days, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said.

The schedule was being sent to international sports federations Thursday, she said, but was not immediately being publicly released.

The results represent a mixed bag for NBC, which has paid hundreds of millions of dollars for Olympic rights and had argued for morning finals for the swimming, gymnastics and athletics to capture higher ratings in the United States.

In reaching a decision, IOC members looked at past precedents and tried to balance the interests of broadcasters, athletes and sports federations, Davies said.

At the 1988 Seoul Games, for example, swimming, gymnastics and athletics finals were held in the morning, she said. But in 2000 at Sydney, they were not, and the U.S. audience was down.

Rowing in 2008 will be held in the afternoon in a concession to the British TV market, while diving finals will be held in the afternoons and evenings for the Australians.

"It's neither a new process or a new issue. In every Games we have to look at the needs of different stakeholders," said Davies. "All broadcasters request things that suit their needs."

To ensure that athletes' performance would not be affected by the scheduling, Davies said the schedule's early release gives competitors sufficient time to adjust their training. Also, athletes are being given longer time to recover between their last heats and the finals, she said.