 |
The German Football League (DFL) has awarded int’l Bundesliga broadcast rights for German-speaking territories in Europe to Sky, Eurosport and Perform, starting with the '17-18 campaign. The league decided to stick with its new domestic media partners, providing viewers with a synchronized distribution across Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg and South Tyrol in Italy. Financial terms of the agreements were not disclosed. Sky, just like in Germany, will be the main broadcast partner, showing 572 of the Bundesliga’s 612 matches per season live across all platforms, including cable, satellite, IPTV, web and mobile. Eurosport, which was able to break Sky’s stranglehold on live TV rights in Germany during the domestic rights tender, will air 40 Bundesliga matches per season on pay-TV channel Eurosport 2 and its subscription-based platform Eurosport Player. “It sort of extends our footprint with the Bundesliga,” Eurosport CEO Peter Hutton told SBD Global. “It clearly drives our content in those markets, so it’s part of us transforming our brand in more territories of Europe.” The pan-European sports net already renewed its Bundesliga rights in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Hungary. “We are still in talks in a few more markets as well, so hopefully we can have a strong Bundesliga footprint across Europe,” he added. U.K.-based Perform Group holds the rights to highlight clips, which will be available via its OTT service DAZN. Jörg Daubitz, managing editor at DFL subsidiary DFL Sports Enterprises, said that the agreement provides Bundesliga coverage to an additional 14 million German-speaking people across Europe.
