Germany: Broadcasting Council ask ARD to reduce football programming

The German Broadcasting Council (MDR-Rundfunkrat) have announced that they are in favour of decreasing media coverage dedicated to football by public broadcaster ARD, in a roadmap published on the 01/07/2013.

The Council believe that football represents too large a share of the group's TV rights (70% of the sports programming budget) in terms of its media coverage (29% of sports programming), to the disadvantage of other sports.

"The depth and diversity of sports programming should not be limited because of the strategic importance and financial weight of a single sport. Even in terms of sports broadcasting, public television and radio channels are responsible for ensuring depth and diversity of media coverage. The Broadcasting Council recognise that ARD must have their TV rights and offer attractive sports programming to address the needs of viewers of all ages...but the overall situation in the acquisition of sports rights is unbalanced," the Broadcasting Council's document indicated.

The Broadcasting Council want ARD to reduce their long-term acquisition and production costs…