T-Mobile threaten to pull out from Bundesliga deal

German telecommunications company T-Mobile is considering ending its sponsorship of the Austrian Bundesliga despite the fact its contract is not due to end until 2008. The sponsors are reportedly unhappy about the decrease in TV audiences since T-Mobile Bundesliga games have been shown by private TV programme ATV and are hoping to modify the contract which guarantees the ten top-flight clubs an annual income of €3.5m. While all league games are shown live on Pay-TV station Premiere, newly-formed ATV bought the Free-TV rights this season, but is struggling to reach more than 80% of all Austrian households, which puts a limit to T-Mobile’s marketing activities. T-Mobile has now threatened to terminate the contract in the summer because negotiations with Bundesliga representatives have failed to bear fruit. Bundesliga chairman Georg Pangl is determined to find a compromise and invited the sponsors to new talks. "In the light of our long-lasting and successful partnership I believe that T-Mobile will hand us another chance to discuss the matter," Pangl said. "We haven’t done anything wrong and are not in breach of contract, but there’s not much I can do if they decide to cancel the deal."

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