The Perform Group "has secured Premier League broadcast rights for three years," according to Nils Lehnebach of SPONSORs. Pay-TV channel Sky Deutschland, which currently holds the EPL rights, "was apparently not willing to increase its rights fee." Perform acquired exclusive EPL rights for Germany, Austria and Lichtenstein from '16-17 until '18-19. The agreement also includes non-exclusive rights in Switzerland and Luxembourg. Perform "reportedly pays three times more than Sky for the rights." With the EPL deal, the London-based company "is highlighting its ambitions in the German-speaking market." Perform "already holds the NBA, NFL, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A rights in the market." Perform announced that it "will launch OTT service" in the summer of '16. For Sky, it is the "first big rights loss in quite some time" (SPONSORs, 12/3). Perform OTT CCO John Gleasure: "The arrival of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Jürgen Klopp has further increased interest in the Premier League across the German-speaking markets ... We will continue to add a range of both international and local rights to the service before our 2016 launch, and look forward to announcing further acquisitions in the very near future" (Perform Group).
