Bundesliga problems with broadcasters
Bundesliga threatens to slide into TV crisis
As of: 5:52 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
The main buyers of the images: Sky and Dazn are the contractual partners for pay TV in Germany. But both have great difficulties. Dazn about still makes minus
Quelle: pa/xim.gs/Philipp Szyza
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Sky and Dazn are in crisis. Financial problems are affecting the broadcasters. This does not bode well for the forthcoming assignment of the rights to the Bundesliga and 2nd division. The clubs have to adapt to a scenario.
Bad news for the Bundesliga and its clubs. Germany’s professional football is threatened with a decline in financial revenues from the most important source of income: the TV rights. For the four years from 2021 to 2025, the online streaming service Dazn and the TV broadcaster Sky will pay around 80 percent of the 4.4 billion euros that the Bundesliga will receive from broadcasting the games.
However, DAZN and Sky are currently in crisis – which could lead to a significant drop in TV revenue for the contracts from 2025 to 2029. While the preparation of the new TV contracts is already going on in the background, the two most important media partners are struggling with profitability and other problems.
The new DFL managing director Steffen Merkel says about the difficulties of Sky and DAZN: “We don’t find the simplest market environment for the tender, I don’t want to hide that at all.” The sale of the media rights, outlined Merkel, is “so important , because the results of this tender are of course so incredibly far-reaching. They set the economic framework for almost the next decade.”
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The auction of the TV rights from 2025 to 2029 is planned for mid-2024, before the European Championship. Merkel does not want to make a forecast yet. He says: “It is not a realistic goal for us to achieve growth rates like in 2016, when we were able to increase by 85 percent.”
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Sky and Dazn are the contractual partners for pay TV in Germany. But both have great difficulties. Dazn still makes minus. Germany boss Alice Mascia said a few weeks ago at the SpoBis congress in Düsseldorf: “We continue to work on being profitable.” And further: “The money that is invested in rights does not come back quickly.” Dazn recently tried the goal to be in the black with price increases. So far, this approach has not been crowned with success – and caused a lot of trouble among the fans.
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Whether Sky is currently profitable is not known because the company has not had to publish numbers since it went public. However: The German subsidiary, which belongs to the US group Comcast, is on an austerity course and recently lost the bid for the Champions League. In addition, there are no more in-house productions of films and series. According to media reports, Sky Germany, like the Italian branch, is to be sold. Sky sports director Charly Classen says: “Sport is and will remain the heart of Sky. The tender from the DFL is absolutely important to us.” The Bundesliga is a “core right”.
DFL Managing Director Merkel draws the following conclusion: “Some partners are undergoing personnel, organizational and structural changes that we cannot fully foresee a year before the tender.” However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Bundesliga is threatened with TV chaos – which could mean significantly less money for the clubs.
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