Sky Deutschland strikes handball worlds deal

Pay-television broadcaster Sky Deutschland has acquired rights in Germany and Austria for the 2015 men’s handball World Championships.

Sky will show all 88 matches during the event, which is due to run from January 15 to February 1 in Qatar.

The broadcaster added that about 50 of the games would be available for free via the Sky.de website.

The deal also covers IPTV and mobile rights.

Sky will show all games featuring the Germany and Austria national teams as well as a minimum of 15 group games and all games from the quarter-final stage onwards.

There had been fears that the tournament would not be shown on German television after public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF pulled out of talks to acquire the rights in December.