Deutsche Telekom, the German telecommunications company, said that it expected to reach an agreement with pay-television broadcaster Sky Deutschland which would enable it to show matches from the Bundesliga, the domestic football league.
Niek Jan van Damme, a Deutsche Telekom board member, told German newspaper Tagesspiegel: “We are in negotiations. Sky has paid so much for the rights, that we assume they want to recoup part of the money.”
However, he insisted that Telekom’s ‘Entertain’ IPTV television service remained attractive even without Bundesliga football.
Sky held off competition from Deutsche Telekom to last month acquire the key pay-television and mobile rights packages to the Bundesliga for the period 2013-14 to 2016-17. Sky acquired all live pay-television rights packages, including the IPTV rights which Telekom has in the current cycle. Sky also acquired the mobile rights which Telekom has in the current cycle.