The Regional Court of Cologne has ruled in favour of international media and entertainment company Discovery Communications in a dispute over pay-television broadcaster Sky Deutschland’s recent marketing campaign surrounding Bundesliga football coverage in the country.
Discovery, which operates international sports broadcaster Eurosport, has exclusive live rights to 40 Bundesliga matches per season through a package acquired a year ago to cover the four seasons from 2017-18 to 2020-21.
Discovery alleged that a recent campaign by Sky suggested that fans could watch all Bundesliga games and goals on channels carried by the pay-television operator. However, it will be the Eurosport Player digital service that will be offering coverage rather than Discovery’s single sports channel that is available on the Sky platform, Eurosport 2.
According to Variety, Discovery is understood to have attempted to resolve the matter before involving the courts, but was unsuccessful.
“Discovery has an obligation to ensure fans understand which Bundesliga matches they can watch, when they can watch them, and where,” Discovery said in a statement. “With consumers at the core of our business, we therefore felt it necessary to take action against Sky Deutschland, who have blurred the lines between fact and fiction, stating that all matches in the upcoming season will only be available on Sky’s platforms. A claim that Sky has been making that is complete fiction and in our view detrimental and confusing, to millions of sports fans throughout Germany.”