Bundesliga TV rights: "We will increase the number of free-to-air matches" (Christian Seifert, DFL)

"We will increase the number of free-to-air matches in the next rights cycle," said Christian Seifert, CEO of the DFL, to the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag on 05/01/2019, while the German Football League is set to launch its tender for the domestic broadcasting rights to the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga for the 2021-2025 cycle in 2020.

On the current cycle (2017-2021), the German public channel ZDF holds the broadcasting rights for three matches per season (on Matchdays 1, 17 and 18). Nine games could be offered to free-to-air broadcasters during the next call for tenders, according to Bild am Sonntag.

An average of 6.86 million viewers watched the three Bundesliga games broadcast on ZDF during the 2018-19 season.

Bundesliga 2017-2021 TV rights: Sky Deutschland broadcasts 266 live matches per season, Eurosport 40 and the public broadcaster ZDF three

• Eurosport, acquired Lot A TV rights from the 2017-2021 call for tenders from the DFL for its paid platforms:
  • 40 Bundesliga matches inlcuding those on Friday nights (20:30 CET), Sundays (13:30 CET) and Monday nights (20:30 CET)
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