Austria: Sky Deutschland reverse decision to broadcast Borussia-Bayern game on free-TV

The Bundesliga meeting on match-day 13 between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, on the 23/11/2013, will ultimately not be broadcast free in Austria, by the pay-TV group Sky Deutschland, the leading broadcaster of the Bundesliga in Germany and Austria, and only broadcaster of the game.

Sky Deutschland had made a deal with Austrian free-TV channel, ATV, on the 12/11/2013, to rebroadcast Sky's unencrypted stream during the meeting between Borussia and Bayern. This collaboration would allow Sky to promote their paid content in the country. "This agreement is an intelligent interaction between pay and free television," said Kai Mitterlechner, CEO of Sky Austria.

Sky's reason for revoking the agreement is because many homes in southern Germany also have access to ATV's programmes "on a higher proportion than initially expected," said Kai Mitterlechner to Austrian newspaper Der Standard, on the 19/11/2013.

ATV had already launched a marketing campaign in Austria to promote the match. "It is very annoying for viewers and ATV of course, that Sky are pulling out of this partnership, one…