German pay-television broadcaster Sky Deutschland is set to offer Bundesliga matches at a “reasonable price” if the country’s top football league is to return next month.
Last week it emerged that the Bundesliga could return with behind-closed-doors matches as early as May 9 after regional government officials held a conference call to discuss the league’s options.
The Bundesliga has been postponed since mid-March following the Covid-19 outbreak and state leaders are said to be largely in favour of the move to return next month.
Sky broadcasts 266 live Bundesliga matches exclusively each season and all 306 matches from the second-tier 2. Bundesliga. With 82 matches of the Bundesliga season still needing to be played, Jan Lehmann, commercial director at Bundesliga club Mainz, revealed that Sky is considering plans to show games at a reduced price.
He told Kicker: “Sky wants to make an offer that is very attractive, but it has not yet been communicated.
“There will be the opportunity to watch the games at very reasonable prices.”
Following the announcement in mid-March that Bundesliga matches would take place without spectators because of the Covid-19 outbreak, Sky unveiled plans to make its ‘Konferenz’ coverage of Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga matches available on a free-to-air basis for two match weeks.
The Sky Bundesliga subscription package is currently priced at €39.99 ($43.35) per month for new customers, albeit the first 12 months are priced at €19.99 per month.
The German Football League (DFL) recently reached an agreement on rights fee payments with Sky and its other domestic rights-holders (with the exception of the Discovery-owned Eurosport). However, the league has stressed that, if the season cannot start again or is cancelled, then “precise mechanisms will be used to return payments” to broadcasters.
The DFL currently brings in €1.16bn per season from its domestic media-rights deals in the 2017-21 cycle. It has recently launched an invitation to tender for rights from 2021-22 to 2024-25 but the awarding of rights has been postponed from the original May target.