Sky Germany secures DFB Cup rights

Sky in Germany has secured the rights to broadcast all matches from the DFB Cup football competition live for the three seasons from 2016-17.

Sky won the rights to air all 63 games from the competition and secured rights spanning cable, satellite, IPTV, the internet and mobile platforms.

In addition to the live broadcast rights, Sky has secured the rights to provide highlight clips of the competition.

DFB president Reinhard Grindel said that the deal underlined the importance of each match in the DFB Cup and the importance of the entire competition.

Public broadcaster ARD has already secured free-to-air rights to the competition, giving it the rights to air nine games live, highlights of other matches, and live broadcast of the women’s competition cup final.

The DFB Cup is seen as the second most important competition in German football after the Bundelsiga, and includes all first and second league German teams.

The German regulator, the Bundeskartellamt, recently ruled that Sky would not be allowed to secure exclusive rights to that competition with the German Football League being obliged to sell the rights to more than one buyer.