The Federal Cartel Office has finally approved the new tender model of the German Football League (DFL). This means that the planned auction of the broadcast rights for the Bundesliga can take place in April.
The DFL was informed in writing that the model it presented for the allocation of rights would be tolerated by the Federal Cartel Office. “The reason for this is that there is now significantly more movement in the market conditions for live broadcasts with providers such as DAZN, RTL and Amazon,” said the cartel office.
The authority had already published a basic agreement at the end of January. Companies involved in the process then had the opportunity to comment on the interim status.
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With the completion of this phase, the DFL can now contact the media companies registered for the auction. After a further information phase in March, the auction of the Bundesliga rights for the 2025/2026 to 2028/2029 seasons is scheduled to take place from mid-April.
Only one pay-TV provider in the future?
DFL managing director Steffen Merkel said he was pleased with the final approval “after a very intensive review”. The approval puts the allocation of media rights on a legally secure foundation. Merkel particularly emphasized the “removal of the ban on solo employment that was called for in the past”.
The end of the ban on single purchasers, also known as the No Single Buyer Rule, is a significant change in the new tender. This regulation stated that no single pay-TV provider was allowed to buy all live rights. Until now, at least two providers had to be involved; by 2025 these will be Sky and DAZN. At the auction in April, a single provider could acquire all pay-TV rights.
The Federal Cartel Office also underlined the importance of free-to-air, timely game summaries on television, as currently provided by ARD Sports show radiates. Thanks to the planned allocation of TV rights, these will also be sufficiently guaranteed in the future. The DFL model advertises the so-called highlight rights in two variants: The first provides for the summaries to begin on Saturday from 6:30 p.m. According to a second variant, this broadcast would only be possible from 7:15 p.m.
The Federal Cartel Office has finally approved the new tender model of the German Football League (DFL). This means that the planned auction of the broadcast rights for the Bundesliga can take place in April.
The DFL was informed in writing that the model it presented for the allocation of rights would be tolerated by the Federal Cartel Office. “The reason for this is that there is now significantly more movement in the market conditions for live broadcasts with providers such as DAZN, RTL and Amazon,” said the cartel office.
