Bundesliga deal leaves Premiere out in the cold

摘要

Unity Media, the German cable operator which has surprised the markets by seizing control of Bundesliga football rights from pay-television operator Premiere, plans to lease its own transponder capacity for an independent satellite service. The loss of the rights was seen as a critical blow to Premiere, which distributes its channels mainly on satellite but also on cable. While some analysts held out hope for Premiere that it might retain a role in distributing the matches, Unity told New Media Markets this week that it would not need Premiere's co-operation even at this level. "As Premiere doesn't have the rights any more, we want to do our own offer," Unity said. "We'd have to talk to satellite companies to have a transponder, but we wouldn't have to talk to Premiere." Unity's subsidiary Arena Sport Rechte and Marketing, which was awarded the rights for ?240 million per season, made clear its intentions to German newspaper Die Welt. "Our plan is to set up a new broadcast platform in Germany next to Premiere."