Premiere loses out on action as Telekom reassigns Bundesliga contract

Constantin Medien will be supplying live coverage for the Bundesliga, thanks to a new deal established between the two parties. The German media group will begin broadcasting the action from the German league in the upcoming season, with the contract set to last through to 2013.

With Bundesliga moving to Constantin Medien, pay-TV provider Premiere is likely in for a rude awakening, as suggested by Rapid TV News. Premier was responsible for providing Bundesliga coverage through Deutsche Telekom, as part of a contract believed to be valued at about EUR 20 million per year. In addition to the financial repercussions, Premier will no longer be able to air live coverage from the league via pay television.

In its place, Constantin Medien will set up a dedicated Bundeliga channel on behalf of Telekom, bringing the more than 600 matches from leagues 1 and 2 to supporters on a live basis, free of commercials. The coverage will be available in HDTV, along with video-on-demand capabilities, interactive methods, and mobile phone platforms.

Constantin Medien will use IPTV’s T-Home Entertain and T-Mobile to distribute the coverage. T-Home Entertain is available in approximately 20 million homes, with Telekom sporting a customer base of about 500,000 last year. This number is expected to double by the end of the current year, which should help to increase Bundesliga support as well.

Sources suggest that since taking Premiere out of the equation, Telekom may take a more targeted approach to Bundesliga, which will also help to draw attention to the league.