German public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF agreed to pay a big increase in rights fee to jointly acquire rights for the Uefa Euro 2016 national team football tournament.
The deal includes live coverage of all 51 games on television, internet, mobile and radio, as well as magazine and highlights programmes.
German news service Sponsors said that the broadcasters agreed to pay €180 million ($238 million) for the rights – about €70 million more than they paid for the rights for all 31 games at Euro 2012, which will take place in Poland and Ukraine.
The increase in the rights fee for Euro 2016 in France is due to the expansion of the tournament from 16 teams in 2012 to 24 teams in 2016.
SportA, the sports-rights arm of ARD and ZDF, brokered the deal with Uefa Events, the commercial division of football’s European governing body.
“National team football is continuously enjoying massive popularity in Germany, also reflected by exceptional television ratings in the recent years,” Uefa Events marketing director Guy-Laurent Epstein said.
ARD and ZDF have become the first European broadcasters to agree a rights deal for Euro 2016.