Deutsche Telekom in talks with TV stations over Bundesliga rights

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Deutsche Telekom AG, which won the internet rights to Germany's Bundesliga football games, is in talks with several TV stations over a partnership to broadcast the matches, a management board member said to AFX. "We are in talks with many TV channels," Walter Raizner, head of the telecoms giant's broadband/fixed-line division, said when asked whether the company was in talks over the rights with pay-TV broadcaster Premiere.

He added no decision has been made yet. Raizner said Deutsche Telekom has no intention to produce its own television programmes and will therefore also not require a broadcasting licence. "We will not become a broadcaster," he said.

Observers have speculated the telecoms firm is likely to team up with German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere AG, which failed to win the pay-TV rights for the Bundesliga matches at an auction in December. Premiere CEO Georg Kofler said last week he would in the coming weeks seek talks with Deutsche Telekom over rights to broadcast Bundesliga games.