Telekom lets Premiere down

The cooperation between Deutsche Telekom and Premiere regarding the broadcasting rights for the German Soccer League appears to be failing: According to a report in the "Financial Times Deutschland", the Telekom Group would give up the cable and satellite rights if it could obtain the mobile and naming rights to the Bundesliga on more favorable terms. Talks to this effect are currently underway. For the pay-TV channel Premiere, this would mean disappointing the majority of its subscribers with regard to the Bundesliga. The broadcaster lost the live TV rights in December, but had hoped for a cooperation with Telekom. As the holder of the online rights, Telekom had granted Premiere a corresponding sub-license for broadcasts in the IP standard. However, this would have put Telekom at risk of a legal dispute, as in this case the exclusive rights would have been challenged by the cable company Arena. Meanwhile, insiders estimate the mobile rights at between 5 and 10 million euros, while the value of the naming rights is said to be between 30 and 45 million euros.