Premiere has won the pay-TV rights to Bundesliga football in Germany, Austria and Switzerland through to the 2012/13 season. The exclusive deal covers live and highlights over cable, satellite and the internet at a cost of €225 million for in 2009/10 rising to €275 million in 2012/13.
Premiere CEO Mark Williams said he was glad to continue the broadcaster’s 17-year relationship with the Bundesliga. “This direct agreement with the DFL covering four years will enable Premiere to offer significantly enhanced coverage to subscribers, including five first division kick-off times per weekend,” he said in a statement.
The weekly highlight will be a ‘match of the week’ that will be broadcast exclusively live on Saturday evenings at 18.30. Football coverage will kick-off on Friday evenings with live coverage of a first division game. On Saturday afternoons pre-match coverage will be followed by a second division match before the main fixture programme that will allow Premiere subscribers to watch all the available matches. Two further games will be screened on Sunday afternoon at 15.30 and 17.30. At least 96 games will be shown per season and Premiere has also picked up the separate rights to sportsbars and clubs.
Deutsche Telekom will also be able to broadcast coverage on the internet (taken to mean IPTV rights), and has secured the exclusive mobile phone rights. Public broadcasters ARD and ZDF will be able to show a highlights package while basic sports channel DSF will have second division highlights.
