Archive notice: This article was originally published on May 19, 2006. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Within the framework of a strategic collaboration with Deutsche Telekom, Premiere can continue to show all matches of the 1st and 2nd football Bundesliga, albeit via IPTV. Telekom has granted the pay-TV broadcaster the corresponding sublicense rights for transmissions in the IP standard. This allows Premiere, as the first German TV company, to broadcast the Bundesliga live via Deutsche Telekom’s broadband networks as part of T-Home. New IPTV receivers are required for reception.The agreement covers the 2006/2007, 2007/2008, 2008/2009 seasons. Deutsche Telekom, T-Online and Premiere do not intend to announce details of the offering until later. Beyond the Bundesliga, the entire Premiere programming is to be available as an IPTV offering on T-Online’s T-Home platform from the summer. Premiere will thus in future also be receivable via broadband networks.
The pay-TV provider will bear editorial and media-law responsibility for the Bundesliga broadcasts and produce them as usual from the 2006/2007 season. All matches of the 1st league will be available individually and in the Premiere conference, and for the first time all matches of the second Bundesliga will also be broadcast individually.
“This is a strategic alliance of two groups that complement each other excellently“, explains Premiere CEO Georg Kofler: „Premiere remains in the game as producer and operator of live Bundesliga. In addition, through T-Home from T-Online we are creating a fast and efficient entry into modern, interactive television. In this way we are promoting an interesting alternative to conventional television reception via satellite or traditional cable.“ In addition, Premiere will offer its subscribers Telekom’s products in the areas of entertainment, internet and DSL telephony. „In the new constellation, Premiere can play to its strengths as an independent programming and marketing company and directly benefit from the growth opportunities surrounding IPTV. We are confident that Premiere via IPTV can also reach new target groups”, says Kofler. “With this cooperation we have reached another important milestone in our strategy for opening up the German broadband market“, states Walter Raizner, Executive Board member for Broadband/Fixed Network at Deutsche Telekom AG .
Premiere’s Bundesliga offering will be marketed by T-Online under the umbrella brand T-Home. For reception, an IP-capable receiver, a streaming set-top box, is required. The cooperation partners intend to present the details of the offering in the coming weeks. Advertising and marketing of the new Bundesliga offerings will begin immediately afterward.
The prerequisites for a high reach of the new IPTV offering are excellent among the pay-TV subscribers, who according to Premiere’s figures have an above-average affinity for technology. According to these figures, 50 percent of today’s Premiere households already have a DSL connection, more than twice as many as the population average. 82 percent have internet access, and in the target group of football-loving men the figure is, according to Premiere, even above 90 percent.
The IPTV receiver T-Home X300T enables more than just reception of the Bundesliga offering. Through its ability to display IP data on the television and the return channel, a multitude of new applications and business models opens up – from the on-demand film library to personal program tips, instant ordering options, games and betting. With the new technology, Kofler sees Deutsche Telekom and Premiere catching up with the global pioneers of digital and interactive television: „The introduction of IPTV will be one of the most significant surges of innovation for the coming decade of the television industry”, speculates the Premiere CEO.
From the summer, the complete Premiere offering with all 28 channels is also to be available on T-Online’s T-Home platform. The programs will be streamed in real time and can be viewed on the television with the corresponding IPTV receiver. Billing takes place via the telephone bill. Via IPTV, T-Online will also present free-TV offerings and thus, according to its own statements, comprehensively depict the German TV landscape.
From Premiere’s point of view, IPTV will change the television landscape in Germany and provide important industrial-policy impetus. “Television via broadband network will become the third distribution path with a wide reach to the viewer. And IPTV will soon be an accepted digital television standard“, Kofler predicts. „Premiere will accelerate and actively shape the technological change in the German TV landscape. The additional competition among distribution paths, which is promoted by the Deutsche Telekom group’s investments in broadband networks, is good for program providers and television viewers. TV operators have the chance of more favorable conditions when broadcasting their programs. And viewers can be pleased that the additional competition leads to more attractive products and content. Success and failure will be decided by the uniqueness of the programming, the radiance of the brand and the quality of customer service.“