News Alerts
Headlines
DFL awards Kirch with Bundesliga TV rights
Germany - 11 October, 2007
Adjust font size:
Just five years after the German media mogul sent the Bundesliga into turmoil by going bankrupt, the German football association (DFL) awarded Leo Kirch with the Bundesliga TV rights for live matches in the German market from 2009 through 2015.
Sirius, a subsidiary of Kirch's company KF 15, is to execute the deal and has guaranteed the DFL EUR 3 billion, or EUR 500 million a year. Currently, the league gets EUR 440 million a year from Unity Media. That deal expires after the 2008/09 season.
As from the 2009/10 season the DFL will not only awards the media rights, but will sell a 100 per cent produced product. The DFL will provide broadcasters with a turn-key solution which includes complete live game coverage, reports and interviews. The move is designed to allow broadcasters interested in the rights to screen the games without extensive planning and with low pre-investments. This offer enables future potential buyers to broadcast the Bundesliga without extraordinary charges and with minor pre-investment - and therefore promotes the competition and the availability for the fans.
A company in which Sirius holds 51 percent and DFL 49 percent will handel the TV production of the Bundesliga matches.
At his peak, Kirch owned Germany's only pay-TV channel, the rights to two of FIFA football World Cups and a share of the license for Formula One motor racing. The Bundesliga was threatened with the loss of nearly EUR 500 million in television money the season that Kirch Media went bankrupt, creating deep holes for clubs who had planned that money into their budget.
The league saved itself through marketing, while clubs slashed expenditures dramatically. For smaller clubs, the loss wiped out nearly half their income.
Kirch's company filed for insolvency in 2002, and to date it is considered as the biggest bankruptcy which was filed in Germany since World War II.
DFL members who approved the deal were generally positive about what Kirch could do for the league. "It's a quantum leap," Hans-Joachim Watzke, commercial manager of Borussia Dortmund, told the DPA news agency. "I consider Mr. Kirch a visionary entrepreneur who thinks strategically."
But Hamburg voted against the new deal. "A decision with enormous implications was made under unnecessary time pressure," Hamburg Chairman Bernd Hoffmann told DPA. "The terms presented here didn't convince me."
Sirius, a subsidiary of Kirch's company KF 15, is to execute the deal and has guaranteed the DFL EUR 3 billion, or EUR 500 million a year. Currently, the league gets EUR 440 million a year from Unity Media. That deal expires after the 2008/09 season.
As from the 2009/10 season the DFL will not only awards the media rights, but will sell a 100 per cent produced product. The DFL will provide broadcasters with a turn-key solution which includes complete live game coverage, reports and interviews. The move is designed to allow broadcasters interested in the rights to screen the games without extensive planning and with low pre-investments. This offer enables future potential buyers to broadcast the Bundesliga without extraordinary charges and with minor pre-investment - and therefore promotes the competition and the availability for the fans.
A company in which Sirius holds 51 percent and DFL 49 percent will handel the TV production of the Bundesliga matches.
At his peak, Kirch owned Germany's only pay-TV channel, the rights to two of FIFA football World Cups and a share of the license for Formula One motor racing. The Bundesliga was threatened with the loss of nearly EUR 500 million in television money the season that Kirch Media went bankrupt, creating deep holes for clubs who had planned that money into their budget.
The league saved itself through marketing, while clubs slashed expenditures dramatically. For smaller clubs, the loss wiped out nearly half their income.
Kirch's company filed for insolvency in 2002, and to date it is considered as the biggest bankruptcy which was filed in Germany since World War II.
DFL members who approved the deal were generally positive about what Kirch could do for the league. "It's a quantum leap," Hans-Joachim Watzke, commercial manager of Borussia Dortmund, told the DPA news agency. "I consider Mr. Kirch a visionary entrepreneur who thinks strategically."
But Hamburg voted against the new deal. "A decision with enormous implications was made under unnecessary time pressure," Hamburg Chairman Bernd Hoffmann told DPA. "The terms presented here didn't convince me."
Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 -
All rights reserved.
© Copyright message
The copying, republication, redistribution or web posting (including by framing or similar means) of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of euFootball.BIZ
-
Finance
Television
Sponsorship
Marketing
Technology
Competitions
Clubs
Stadia-Facilities
Legal
Administration
Events