German pay-television broadcaster Sky Deutschland has rejected a request from public-service broadcaster ARD to sublicense the live rights to Saturday’s women’s singles final of the Wimbledon tennis championships between Germany’s Sabine Lisicki and France’s Marion Bartoli, according to the DWDL.de website.
Sky holds the live rights to Wimbledon in Germany and Dirk Grosse, head of communications for Sky Sports, confirmed that ARD had made an approach regarding a sublicensing deal.
Grosse said the offer was considered “in detail” but was deemed to be “insufficient”. He added: “This means that the final of Sabine Lisicki will be broadcast live and exclusive on Sky on Saturday.”
Sky’s current three-year Wimbledon contract expires following this year’s tournament. The tender for a new three-year contract is still open.
Lisicki is the first German to reach the Wimbledon final since seven-time champion Steffi Graf in 1999.