Streaming service DAZN, having taken over Bundesliga rights to 40 matches in Germany and Austria from sports broadcaster Eurosport, is yet to complete a deal for those matches to be shown in public establishments.
DAZN’s coverage of the league begins with the first match of the 2019-20 Bundesliga season, tomorrow’s match between Bayern Munich and Hertha BSC. Despite confirming on Wednesday that it is in talks with its partners, DAZN has yet to close a deal.
Eurosport, which is owned by US media group Discovery, previously agreed a deal with pay-television broadcaster Sky Deutschland in order to allow matches shown on the Eurosport 2 HD Xtra channel to be shown by public establishments with a Sky subscription. Before this, the only way to watch those matches in a public establishment was via the OTT service Eurosport Player.
Eurosport initially acquired rights to a package of Bundesliga matches from the Deutsche Fußball Liga for the entire four-season cycle, from 2017-18 to 2020-21. However, it recently agreed a multi-faceted deal with DAZN in which it sublicensed its Bundesliga rights to streaming service. The deal also saw the Eurosport 1 HD and Eurosport 2 HD channels made available to DAZN subscribers in Austria, Germany, Italy and Spain.
The opening match will also have linear coverage in Germany, as public-service broadcaster ZDF will broadcast the match as part of its deal with the DFL for rights to three non-exclusive live matches per season, from 2017-18 to 2020-21.
DAZN’s coverage will also be available via satellite television platform HD Plus, a subsidiary of satellite operator SES, after the streaming service confirmed last month that it will respect the agreement that was initially struck by Eurosport.