The I.O.C.’s auction for the 2014 and ’16 rights, which has been delayed to avoid the worst of the recession, will test the networks’ desires to demonstrate financial prudence.

Jacques Rogge, the I.O.C. president, said recently that he wanted more than $2.2 billion, which G.E. paid for the 2010 and ’12 rights and for a global sponsorship. But Comcast, without international interests like G.E.’s, has no reason to buy such a sponsorship. G.E. said in 2008 that its sponsorship was paying off with $700 million in contracts for 400 Olympic projects in and around Beijing.

Privately, the I.O.C. thinks the Sochi-Rio media rights could be worth as much as $2.7 billion.

But, Moffett said, “It’s a stretch to imagine making money at $2 billion.”

Network executives say they think that Sochi is less valuable than Vancouver (cost: $820 million) because of its relatively warm winter climate and that Rio should not bring as large a rights fee as a domestic Olympics would have in Chicago, one of the losing bidders in the election to host the 2016 Games.

But Richard Carrion, the I.O.C. member handling the auction, said in an interview, “I think there are plenty of things to make Sochi an exciting place, and Rio is a good summer site.”

Last month, Leslie Moonves, the president of CBS, mindful of NBC’s losses and what the I.O.C. is seeking, seemed to indicate he would bow out of the auction if he could not get a bargain.