UPC secures German Bundesliga rights for MySports
The UPC sports channel MySports is entering into a partnership with Sky Deutschland and, starting next season, will exclusively broadcast in Switzerland all games for which the German pay-TV broadcaster holds the rights. The conference coverage is also new.
UPC has secured the distribution rights to the German Bundesliga for MySports through a partnership with Sky Deutschland. The cooperation marks "another fundamental change in the Swiss sports TV market," MySports writes in a statement.
The reason: The UPC broadcaster is thus snatching one of its most attractive flagships away from its main competitor Teleclub. After the Swiss ice hockey league, the Swisscom subsidiary is now losing the German Bundesliga, which is just as popular with viewers, to its new competitor from UPC. In addition to 266 live broadcasts of the first Bundesliga and 306 from the second-highest league, the popular Bundesliga Conference is now also part of the MySports offering.
Head of Programming Steffi Bucheli said in a statement: "The fact that we, as a new sports broadcaster, can now also offer our customers this fillet piece of international soccer makes me very happy! This takes our channel to the next level and leaves the competition in the domestic sports TV market behind us."
Sky has to share with Eurosport, MySports with Teleclub
However, there has also been a fundamental change in Germany for the coming season: Sky no longer owns the full rights to the Bundesliga, but has to share the matches with Eurosport up to a certain point - and Teleclub will benefit from this. Eurosport, in fact, secured a package of 43 live matches. These include all Friday games, five Sunday games at half past two and the five newly-scheduled Monday games. The relegation matches in the 1st and 2nd divisions also went to Eurosport . Teleclub extended its long-standing partnership with Disocvery Networks Deutschland, the owner of Eurosport, and was thus able to secure a piece of the Bundesliga pie after all.
This means that 40 matches from the first Bundesliga will be shown exclusively on Teleclub in Switzerland. The second Bundesliga, on the other hand, will be withheld from MySports customers. Teleclub will also show the Supercup and the aforementioned four relegation matches from the first and second Bundesliga. In addition, the highlights of all 306 Bundesliga matches will be shown on Saturday and Sunday via Eurosport.
Teleclub hopes for detour via Sky app
Sky Deutschland is also launching a sports app that includes Sky's Bundesliga matches. Teleclub is currently negotiating the integration of this Sky Sport app into its distribution structure, so that Teleclub customers can enjoy Sky Bundesliga content in this way, the broadcaster wrote in a statement on Saturday. As soon as these talks have been concluded, information will be provided on the new program and offer structure, the statement added.
| Sky / MySports (Pay) | Eurosport / Teleclub (Pay) | |
|---|---|---|
| Bundesliga | 266 | 40 |
| 2nd Bundesliga | 306 | 0 |
A small portion of the Bundesliga matches on UPC will be available on the basic MySports HD channel, as well as unrestricted on the MySports Pro service. Customers without a MySports Pro subscription can also receive access for individual match days, UPC announced on Friday. The company plans to announce more information and details about the offer next week.
Sky Deutschland is also pleased with the new cooperation. Matthias Hahn, Vice President Commercial Distribution at Sky: "The cooperation with UPC fits perfectly into our strategy of increasingly exploiting our potential on the Swiss market in the future and generating further growth." (hae)
