Bundesliga Sponsors Implore Kirch To Keep Games On Free TV

Bundesliga Sponsors Form Lobbying Group To Keep Games On Free TV

In response to Leo Kirch's recent $4.27B deal to sell domestic broadcast rights to the Bundesliga, the league's top 20 sponsors -- including adidas, Coca-Cola, Siemens and Deutsche Telekom -- have formed a lobbying group "to fight any attempt" to move Bundesliga matches from free to pay TV, according to Scott Roxborough of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Kirch could attempt to make money on his deal with the Bundesliga, which runs from '09-2015, by selling rights to the games exclusively to pay TV channel Premiere, which has said that "it is willing to pay more for soccer rights if it gets more exclusivity" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 10/25).