Kirch’s promise to DFL must be fulfilled

Leo Kirch, media tycoon, and German soccer league DFL may call off a contract on marketing rights for Bundesliga soccer games of Germany if the Federal Cartel Offices pursues and demands for enhanced coverage of the competitions on television. The report from Der Spiegel says that many people are already aware of this news. According to the Cartel Office, they are in need of more proposals for marketing rights for Germany’s Bundesliga in order to cope up with the needs of their clients.

DFL may call off contract

As of this time, the current Bundesliga competitions are being aired on TV with pay. The reason behind this is that the German soccer league DFL can get a larger profit from this compared to broadcasting on free television. For the succeeding soccer matches, DFL made plans and suggestions on how to address this matter. The first proposal is that the live coverage will be limited only to pay-tv while the replays shown on Saturdays broadcast at 6:30 p.m. local time. The Cartel Office reiterated that highlights of games shown on Saturdays should be aired at 8 p.m. local time on television. This is for both state-owned and private stations that are free. However, Kirch is predicted to dall short on producing five hundred million Euros of income annually. He has given a contract with DFL on this matter and he can do this if he decides to sell exclusive broadcasting right to pay-TV companies such as AG Premiere.

This can definitely add up to the income more than the free-TV stations. If the negotiations do not come to order, then DFL will have no other choice but to sell its broadcasting rights on the year 2009. Theo Zwanziger, DFL president told Zeitung about the Cartel Office’s negotiations in marketing rights which will generally lead to the risk of German soccer’s knack in international competitions. Aside from that, they fear that the soccer league may not have sufficient funds to answer the needs of these top soccer players. And if this happens, the national team may come to a failure.

So the league should take appropriate actions in order to keep its national team intact and trained fully as funds go unstable. Kirch is really determined in selling its exclusive broadcasting rights as a solution to this problem. Free television providers may find it devastating but Kirch will have no other choice. Its promise to DFL must be fulfilled.