German media entrepreneur Dieter Hahn, majority shareholder in media company Constantin Medien, wants to acquire pay-TV rights for Germany’s domestic football league Bundesliga.
With a subscription package for less than €10 per month, Constantin’s sports channel Sport1+ wants to transmit live games and report on the remaining weekend matches, Hahn told German business newspaper Handelsblatt.
“It’s been my opinion for a long time, that there should be several differentiated propositions for the Bundesliga,” explained Hahn. “Currently, the TV viewer has to either miss out on Bundesliga live coverage or buy the whole offering from Sky along with several other things. That’s a perfectly compiled premium product for a correspondingly high price. Broad consumer circles who can’t afford it are, however, being excluded.”
Sport1+ is distributed on pay-TV platforms via cable, satellite and IPTV. Hahn is currently looking for a partner for the venture which could be a platform operator, he said, adding that possible participators could also be “international media companies expanding to Europe”.
Broadband TV News Commentary: It is far from certain that Sport1’s anticipated scenario will actually become reality as it’s hard to predict the state of the vibrant media industry in 2016. However, there could be other, more tactical reasons behind the move: The attack on Sky might be in connection with the dispute regarding the pay-TV broadcaster’s recently failed shareholding deal with Constantin Medien and a strategic move to raise international awareness to attract new investors for Constantin Medien’s assets.
