Bundesliga TV rights: "I'm asking whether we need a no-single-buyer rule again" (C. Seifert, DFL)

"I'm asking a big question mark as to whether we need a no-single-buyer rule again. Due to the technical possibilities in connection with the content strategies of new or existing market participants, there is also enough competition (for the next call for tenders for the domestic TV rights to DFL competitions)," said Christian Seifert, CEO of the DFL, to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung on 22/03/2019.

The "no-single-buyer rule" was introduced during the tender for the domestic audiovisual rights of the Bundesliga, 2.Bundesliga and DFL-Supercup for the 2017-2021 cycle, on 12/04/2016. The implementation of this rule had been requested by a delegation made up of various media and telecommunications operators, but also from FC Bayern Munich, to the Bundeskartellamt (monopoly control body in Germany), which validated it on 11/04/2016.

The call for tenders for the domestic audiovisual rights to the Bundesliga, 2.Bundesliga and DFL-Supercup, from the 2021-22 season onwards, "should begin at the end of the year (2019). The auction will start at the end of the first quarter of 2020 and…