German broadcasters and the German Handball Federation (DHB) have expressed their frustration that a rights deal has yet to be agreed in Germany for handball’s 2015 men’s World Championships.
The event is due to run from January 15 to February 1 in Doha, Qatar, but has yet to secure a German rights-holder.
Axel Balkausky, sports coordinator of public-service broadcaster ARD, told the Handballwoche magazine: “Within the next few weeks, an agreement should be reached. Otherwise, we will be in the situation where we will not be able to integrate the World Championships into our programme operations.”
DHB secretary general Mark Schober said he is optimistic that a deal will be reached in a “timely manner.” However, Jörg Augustin, senior director of SportA, said bids were lodged on behalf of ARD and fellow public-service broadcaster ZDF in August without any further negotiations. “We were instead asked to wait,” he added. SportA acts as the sports rights agency of ARD and ZDF.
Qatar’s BeIN Media Group acquired global rights to the men’s and women’s World Championships in 2015 and 2017 from the International Handball Federation last year.