Bundesliga: Sport1 eyes purchasing live broadcasting rights for 2017-2021

Beginning in 2017, German free- and pay -TV broadcaster Sport1 would like to broadcast Bundesliga matches live, announced Dieter Hahn, CEO of the media group Constantin Medien, which owns Sport1; Hahn was quoted in the German business newspaper Handelsblatt on 06/07/2014.

Sport1 has the broadcast rights to Bundesliga highlights for 2013-2017; it pays DFL (German Professional Football League) €25m per season. It broadcasts this content on its free channel Sport1.

For 2017-2021, Hahn hopes for Sport1 to acquire, in addition to 1^st German division highlights, the live rights to at least one Bundesliga match every weekend. Both types of content would be broadcast on Sport1+, the group's pay channel, whose subscription price of €10 per month would remain unchanged.

"Until now, the viewer had to either go without Bundesliga live or else subscribe to Sky's complete package. That's a high-level, quality product, and the price is therefore high (€34.90 per month). Many types of consumers who cannot afford such a subscription are excluded," Hahn told Handelsblatt on 06/07/2014.

Hahn…