Germany’s Conference of Directors of the Media Authorities (DLM) has granted the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the top division of the sport in Germany, a 10-year licence for the formation of a television channel, according to the Digital Fernsehen website.
The channel, with the working title BBL-Kanal, has been afforded a licence for nationwide distribution, with programming set to focus on Bundesliga games, along with those from European competitions.
The news comes after telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom in June agreed a four-year deal for the media rights to the BBL.
The agreement, which includes both national and international rights, commences from the 2014-15 season and runs through to the end of the 2017-18 campaign.
Deutsche Telekom will exploit the rights through its IPTV platform Entertain and has promised to broadcast all games live – a first for the league. Its rights encompass all 306 BBL regular-season games, all play-off encounters, the Top Four season-ending event, the BBL AllStar Day and the BBL Champions Cup.