The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has vetoed a proposed televised debate among the five cities bidding for the 2012 Olympic Games.

BBC World had planned an unprecedented broadcast featuring bid leaders from Paris, London, New York, Madrid and Moscow. The five cities had agreed to the program.

But IOC executive director Gilbert Felli said on Tuesday that the show would violate bid rules. The regulations state that "no form of audiovisual debate between one or several cities organized by a press organization will be accepted."

Hoping to keep within the rules, the BBC proposed a format in which the cities wouldn't formally debate or criticize each other. Instead, they would each make presentations and answer questions from a BBC journalist.

After originally agreeing to the idea, the IOC rejected that arrangement.

"The IOC interprets a debate as any format in which five people take part in a discussion in the same room together," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. "The IOC rules say no debate. Five bid cities sitting around a table is a debate."

The IOC had cooperated with the BBC on the project but changed its mind after various news reports referred to a "presidential-style debate."

The IOC said it doesn't object to the BBC or other organizations doing separate interviews with the five cities.

The IOC will select the host city on July 6 in Singapore. Parisis considered the front-runner in the highest-profile bid race in Olympic history.

The BBC World channel is shown in more than 200 countries and a debate would have given each city a chance to make a very public pitch for hosting the Olympics.

The BBC planned to tape the debate on Jan. 27 in Turin, Italy, where the bid cities will be attending the European Figure Skating Championships, and broadcast the program worldwide two days later.

(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2005)