Basketball fans will have to make the switch from next year and buy a new subscription for moving pictures of the Bundesliga. Telekom lost the bidding for the media rights against S-Nation Media.
Currently mixing up the streaming market: Christian Seifert.
imago images/Laci Perenyi
The joint media company of former DFL boss Christian Seifert and the media group Axel Springer has secured the Bundesliga for six seasons from the 2023/2024 season, as the BBL announced on Thursday.
Seifert is stirring up the market for media rights and wants to launch a new streaming platform in the coming year. The former boss of the German Football League has meanwhile secured TV rights for three leagues together with the Axel Springer media group: table tennis, volleyball and basketball. And there should be more, especially ice hockey and handball are on the shopping list.
The long-standing media partner Telekom was disappointed. “We regret that the BBL decided against extending a successful partnership,” said a spokesman for the German Press Agency. “MagentaSport has reliably developed German basketball media since 2014 and will remain a very important TV provider for basketball in the future.” The internet platform MagentaSport will be showing the Bundesliga in the coming season and also owns the rights for the EuroLeague and the EuroCup as well as international matches.
No details on the cooperation with ARD
“S-Nation will produce all games of the Basketball Bundesliga and the BBL Cup in the usual high quality and broadcast them on their own platform,” the BBL statement said. “In addition, S-Nation has agreed on extensive cooperation with the Bild Group and ARD in order to increase relevance and reach and win even more fans.” Details on this have not yet been published.
The 53-year-old Seifert spoke of the “next growth step” of his new project. The third purchase of league rights “encourages us to offer attractive sports a bigger stage and more media reach than ever before with our new streaming platform”.
BBL Managing Director Stefan Holz was “convinced that we are taking the right step with this constellation to get even more people excited about the great sport of basketball”. The combination of “Germany’s leading media group with its sports competence and reach power” and Seifert’s enormous expertise open up “promising opportunities to tap the undisputed potential of basketball in Germany even more comprehensively”.
