Low Ratings For ARD, ZDF's EuroBasket Coverage Lead To Debate About TV Culture

German Olympic Sports Association (DOSB) President Alfons Hörmann "has joined the debate over low ratings for the first three 2015 EuroBasket games of the German national team," according to the SID. Hörmann: "You certainly have to ask why it is not possible to create more interest considering the participation of two global stars like Dirk Nowitzki and Dennis Schröder." The reason behind Hörmann's comment is the low ratings number of 1.05 million viewers (5.7% market share) that German public broadcaster ARD attracted for its broadcast of Germany's 80-75 loss to Turkey on Tuesday. The country's second public broadcast, ZDF, which aired the first two games over the weekend, "also drew just a little more than 1 million viewers and had single-digit shares." Hörmann "sees German TV's football-heavy coverage culture as a reason for the disappointing ratings" (SID, 9/9).