“Ignorant” – basketball president rages against ARD and ZDF
Two overtimes – Germany wins high-class duel against Lithuania
The German team needed two overtime periods against Lithuania for a narrow win and the perfect number of points after three games. With this, Germany manages to qualify early for the round of 16.
Ingo Weiss raises serious allegations against the public television stations. The president of the German basketball team criticized that the EM games could not be seen on TV. ARD and ZDF laid out a “red carpet”.
Dhe President of the German Basketball Federation (DBB), Ingo Weiss, has harshly criticized the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF for not showing the games of the European Championships in Cologne and Berlin live. “Then I have to say that I find it quite ignorant and disappointing that the public broadcasters are not doing their job,” criticized Weiss. The national team had previously defeated co-favorite Lithuania 109:107 after two overtimes and thus celebrated their third win in a row.
The German games will be streamed free of charge on the internet broadcaster Magentasport. The Telekom subsidiary has acquired the TV rights and is also showing all other EM games from Tbilisi, Prague and Milan for Magenta customers. According to their own statements, ARD and ZDF have not acquired any TV rights.
Weiss praised the “excellent transmission” of the streaming portal and emphasized that the rights holder had laid out a “red carpet” for ARD and ZDF in order to be able to transmit. The two stations show excerpts of the games in their formats like on Sunday in the “Sportschau”, but unlike seven years ago they don’t broadcast live.
Ingo Weiss, President of the German Basketball Federation, speaks at the jersey ceremony in honor of Dirk Nowitzki
Those: pa/dpa/Federico Gambarini
“I don’t know where Mr. Weiss got his information from,” said ZDF sports director Thomas Fuhrmann on Monday of the dpa. “Deutsche Telekom has acquired the broadcasting rights for the live games. It stays that way.”
German EM games only at Magentasport
“If you had made a deal in advance, for example about the opening game, then you could have talked about everything,” said Weiss, who admitted, however, that as president of the association he was not part of the negotiations and talks. The ratings on “Magentasport” for the previous EM games are “phenomenal”, reported Weiss. The streaming service usually does not communicate the numbers publicly.
A problem with public broadcasters in recent years has often been that live basketball has not drawn enough viewers in front of the television. The final round in Berlin with round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final begins on September 10th. The finale will take place on September 18th.
