German pay-TV network Sky Deutschland Sports Dir Carsten Schmidt said that "the network is looking to add to its sports portfolio," according to Manuel Weis of QUOTENMETER. Sky Deutschland has already secured the broadcast rights for Formula E, handball champions league and handball world championship in '14, and more is expected to come. Schmidt: "Handball has become very popular over the past several weeks on our network." He also made clear that Sky would not sublicense the handball world championship rights to German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF. Schmidt rejected the call of ARD Sports Dir Axel Balkausky to include the handball world championship on the national list, which would guarantee free-TV coverage of the tournament. He said, "The cry for help will fade away. There's always a call for in Germany when the public broadcasters have to deal with a situation that is surprising from a sports sense of view" (QUOTENMETER, 1/27).
HANDBALL RATINGS: In a separate piece, Weis reported Sky "attracted an average audience of 370,000 viewers for its broadcast of the handball world championship round 16 matchup between Germany and Egypt on Monday." The number translated into a market share of 2.3%. In the target demographic 14-49, Germany's 23-16 victory obtained a market share of 2.9% (QUOTENMETER, 1/27).
