In the future, the broadcasting rights to live Bundesliga games may only go to one provider. The Federal Cartel Office announced this on Tuesday.
In the future, it will again be possible to sell the broadcasting rights to live Bundesliga games to just one provider. As the German Football League (DFL) announced on Tuesday, the Federal Cartel Office had agreed to abolish the so-called “no single buyer rule”.
“We welcome the elimination. This can lead to more competition,” said DFL managing director Steffen Merkel with a view to the allocation of national TV rights for the seasons from 2025/2026 to 2028/2029. The change means “that one person can buy everything. But it does not mean that one person will buy everything.”
Cartel Office sees “significantly more movement”
After a preliminary examination, the Federal Cartel Office announced that “this change could be tolerated for the period of the upcoming award period in view of the changed market conditions in the area of live broadcasts.” “We have seen significantly more movement in the market for live football broadcasts in recent years thanks to the activities of companies such as DAZN, RTL and Amazon,” said Andreas Mundt, President of the Bonn authority.
The pay channel Sky and the streaming platform DAZN will share the TV rights to the live games until the end of the current period. Since the 2017/18 season, according to a decision by the Federal Cartel Office, the “no single buyer rule” applied, according to which not a single broadcaster could buy all live rights. The DFL wants to complete the sale of the media rights by the end of the second quarter.