The Sportsman Media Group agency has agreed a two-year extension to its contract with SportA, the sports rights agency for German public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF, to cover the German Ice Hockey League (DEL).
The agreement means that ARD and ZDF will continue to provide extensive coverage of all game days in the 2014-15 DEL season, which commenced on October 2, along with the 2015-16 campaign.
The agreement between Sportsman and SportA includes the right to cover DEL games in the form of detailed round-ups in programmes including ARD’s Sportschau, ZDF’s Sportreportage, the Tagesschau, ARD’s and ZDF’s Morgenmagazin and Mittagsmagazin, and programmes on ARD’s regional stations. The contract covers the main round and the play-off rounds for both seasons.
Lutz Tigges, director of media rights at the Sportsman Media Group, said: “The last season showed again that interest in ice hockey in Germany remains very strong. One proof of this is the very good reach of the live broadcasts by ServusTV and Laola1.tv. Another is the increased programme duration on public service broadcasters: airtime increased by five hours compared to the previous season, clocking in at 30 hours altogether. This is why it was important to us that the DEL receives broad TV coverage again this season. We have secured this by adding round-ups in top formats on ARD and ZDF to the live broadcasts of games by ServusTV and Laola1.tv.”
Sportsman has been responsible for the global marketing of video and broadcast rights for the DEL on all platforms since the 2012-13 season. In addition, the production rights also reside with the Munich-based agency.