Archive notice: This article was originally published on December 21, 2005. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
A fine Christmas present for the pay-TV broadcaster Premiere: The German football Bundesliga will no longer be shown live on it from the 2006/2007 season through the 2008/2009 season. The German Football League (DFL) today awarded the rights to the company Arena, a consortium of cable network operators. The Premiere share price immediately fell sharply.
Premiere announced that it had not achieved the goal of being able to broadcast the German football Bundesliga from next season with significantly more exclusivity than before. Under the pay-TV broadcaster’s plans, Bundesliga matches were not to be shown on free TV until 10 p.m. in future. However, the DFL opted for a matchday model in which ARD can show a comprehensive summary on free TV on Saturdays from as early as 6:30 p.m. as part of Sportschau. In this scenario, Premiere would have had to bear an additional financial burden of around 40 percent despite unchanged exclusivity, the company complains.
Until the end of the 2005/2006 season, Premiere intends to broadcast its Bundesliga live offering unchanged. For the period from August 1, 2006, following the DFL’s decision the broadcaster would “adjust its pricing and offering structure to market conditions if necessary,” a company statement says. Even without the German football Bundesliga matches, it would in future show an attractive sports program with a high proportion of live football. It now had considerably greater financial leeway over the next three years to further expand the programming offering in all areas.
