German Handball Association (DHB) president Andreas Michelmann has moved to deny comments attributed to him that talks with public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF have “failed” over a rights deal for the 2017 Men’s World Championship.
The 2017 World Championship will take place in France from January 11-29. The DHB is seeking to avoid a repeat of the situation that arose during the most recent edition of the International Handball Federation showpiece. The 2015 Men’s World Championship took place in Qatar, with ARD and ZDF only securing rights for extracts of coverage from the tournament.
Under the deal with beIN Media Group, the tournament’s global rights distribution partner, clips of games were shown in news and sports programmes. ARD and ZDF pulled out of talks to acquire live rights for the tournament before pay-television broadcaster Sky Deutschland struck a deal for live coverage before the start of the event.
Michelmann was quoted by magazine Handball Inside as stating that talks between ARD, ZDF and beIN had broken down. This led to ZDF sports director Dieter Gruschwitz telling German news agency DPA: “The statement by Mr Michelmann surprised us. Especially since there has been no official offer by the rights holder.”
In a statement released yesterday (Thursday) by the DHB, Michelmann denied that he had stated negotiations had failed. He added: “We are in negotiations only as an active observer and are therefore aware of the difficult situation. We remain committed that the negotiating parties come together and find an optimal solution for the German market.”