The German football league (DFL) granted cable operators key broadcast rights to Bundesliga soccer matches on Wednesday in a severe blow for pay-TV broadcaster Premiere, whose stock almost halved.
In a deal worth 420 million euros ($499 million), the top 36 German soccer clubs awarded the pay-TV rights for live matches for the next three seasons to Arena, a company owned by cable firm Unity Media, which is in talks to share the rights with Kabel Deutschland, the country's top cable operator.
Confirming an earlier Reuters report, DFL turned down an offer from its current partner Premiere, which has rights to show the current season's matches.
The broadcaster originally had been seen by analysts as the frontrunner in the long-awaited deal and willing to spend more than the 180 million euros it paid for the current season, in return for more exclusivity.
DFL President Werner Hackmann said Premiere had put a higher offer on the table, but demanded too much exclusivity.
"It was a difficult decision," he told a packed news conference in Frankfurt.
Under the deal, public broadcaster ARD and free-TV channel DSF, owned by media group EM.TV, will broadcast match highlights. In addition, phone carrier Deutsche Telekom will get the Internet broadcasting rights.
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