Eurosport "won its fight to stop the largest satellite TV service provider in Germany from marketing itself as the exclusive home" of the Bundesliga, after a German court issued an injunction against Sky Deutschland, adding that the satellite service misled consumers, according to Mike Farrell of MULTICHANNEL NEWS. The Regional Court of Cologne issued the injunction on Monday. According to the ruling, the court found "deceptive consumer practices" in Sky Deutschland's campaign, "Every Game, Every Goal," regarding its coverage of the Bundesliga. Sky Deutschland had been the exclusive provider of the Bundesliga until last year, when the league opened up bidding for its games to other providers after the Federal Cartel Office, Germany's anti-trust agency, initiated the "no-single buyer rule" for rights to the matches. Eurosport has the rights to 40 Bundesliga games, while Sky Deutschland "airs 572 of the 612 games each season" (MULTICHANNEL NEWS, 6/26). In L.A., Scott Roxborough reported at issue is Sky's promotion for its coverage of the new Bundesliga season, which kicks off in August. For the "first time in many years," Sky does not have all pay-TV rights to the league. In its promotional campaign, Sky "continues to claim, falsely, that it is the exclusive home of the Bundesliga in Germany," Discovery claimed in its injunction. In a statement, Discovery said that Sky's claim "is complete fiction and in our view detrimental and confusing, to millions of sports fans throughout Germany." The legal action suggests Discovery is "taking a more aggressive approach with its Eurosport Player in the German market and is directly targeting" Sky's football fans (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 6/27). BROADBAND TV NEWS' Jörn Krieger reported a Discovery spokesperson said that Discovery "feels obliged to football fans being correctly informed about the Bundesliga games they can watch, when they can watch them and where they can watch them." As Discovery has not found any distribution partner yet, it is "only certain at this stage that the games will be shown in Germany on its own OTT service," Eurosport Player, which viewers can access on smart TVs, computers, tablets and smartphones (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 6/27).
