January 25 – In a move that could have a radical impact on viewership, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office wants to introduce a “no single buyer” rule when it awards broadcasting rights for the 2017/18 Bundesliga football season, according to local reports.
The new rule would prevent a single company buying all available packages meaning a single subscription would no longer be enough to see all every live game and impacting on the business model of Sky Deutschland which currently holds the sole rights to games in the first and second divisions.
Sky Deutschland, along with Britain’s BSkyB and Sky Italia, is part of European pay-TV group Sky Plc, 39% owned by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox.
“It is true that we are still in constructive dialogue related to the DFL,” a spokesman for the Federal Cartel Office in Bonn was quoted as saying without adding further detail.
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