South African free-to-air direct broadcast provider OpenView has added to its sports portfolio, acquiring free-to-air rights to Germany’s Bundesliga for the remainder of the 2019-20 season.
It has acquired the rights from Bundesliga International, the Bundesliga’s international sales and marketing arm. As part of the deal, OpenView will broadcast live coverage of the Saturday evening match at 7.30pm on its e.tv channel in South Africa, whilst also delivering a weekly highlights programme.
OpenView has agreed similar free-to-air deals this year with the English Premier League and National Basketball Association.
The Bundesliga rights are exclusive on free-to-air, but the Bundesliga also currently has a five-season deal across Sub-Saharan Africa (including South Africa), from 2015-16 to 2019-20, with pay-television broadcaster StarTimes.
Bundesliga International is now “live” in its media-rights sales process in various markets across the globe for a new cycle beginning in the 2020-21 season.