By Karolos Grohmann
BERLIN (Reuters) – Pay-TV broadcaster Sky Deutschland wants to remain the biggest partner of the Bundesliga when the new domestic rights are auctioned next year, a senior executive told Reuters.
For the league to grow and remain relevant to a young fan base, however, changes in coverage are also needed, Charly Classen, executive vice president for sport and customer operations at Sky Deutschland said in an interview.
“Sky and the DFL, the Bundesliga, have been working together for 30 years. We are their biggest partner and we want to stay their biggest partner,” Classen said.
Sky, owned by U.S. group Comcast Corp, is the current major domestic Bundesliga rights holder, broadcasting all Saturday matches.
DAZN has rights for Friday and Sunday matches.
The domestic rights auction for four years from 2025/26 will start early next year with German media reporting that new potential bidders are interested. The German Football League (DFL) is set to decide before Euro 2024 in June.
“Competition is not anything new,” Classen said. “There has always been competition for sports rights and there always will be competition for sports rights. Few things have the emotional power that sport has to drive behaviours.”
“Whether a new entrant comes into the market we will find out. We focus on ourselves and what is right for our business.”
After a second consultation of the country’s competition regulatory agency and registration in February the auction is expected to begin after Easter amid reports the DFL is unlikely to match the 4.4 billion euros it had earned for the current four-year deal.
DFL bosses have said the auction would be challenging amid unfavourable market conditions.
Several other rights for top European leagues, including the lucrative English Premier League, are up for auction in the coming period.
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To remain relevant to a young audience in Germany, Classen said he would like to see changes that would improve story-telling.
“We are a massively influential force in German sport – which shows in our coverage on our linear channels and digital outlets and in how we drive the conversation forward,” he said.
It must turn that influence into new subscriptions in what Classen said was a “stable pay-tv market.”
“The number of people subscribing to football is not growing significantly. So we want to take the next step,” he said.
“The performance on the pitch is beyond our control. But what we can influence is how we tell the story. Sometimes football is a bit too distant and too restrictive.”
He said recent changes introduced in Formula One with more media contact with drivers and media access in dressing rooms in American sports had been successful.
“More access during the week, leading up to the matches. Better ways to build up that excitement. Can we speak to players closer to kickoff?,” Classen said. “So far it is quite controlled and quite limited in what we as a broadcaster can do.”
“Can we get some insight into the dressing room? For me it is a symbol of where the real emotion happens.”
“That’s where F1 has made huge strides, but also the American sports. We would like to see the league of the clubs starting to open up in a similar way,” he said.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Toby Davis)
