Only ten 3rd division games left on free TV?

Created: 08/10/2022 05:17

For friends of the 3rd football league, the offer may change from the coming season.

© picture alliance / Timm Schamberger / dpa

More games on free TV or fewer?

For friends of the 3rd football league, the offer may change from the coming season.

Berlin - The tender for the media rights for the 3rd football league can lead to a significantly reduced number of games on free-to-air television.

According to information from the German Press Agency, the minimum would be ten games on free TV.

But there could also be more than before.

The old TV contract is still valid.

With this, the ARD had acquired the right to broadcast at least two third division games per match day live on the first or third programs.

There are a total of 86 games per season as well as the promotion games to the 3rd league.

Last week, the subsidiary DFB GmbH & Co. KG started tendering for the rights for the four seasons from 2023/2024 to 2026/2027.

This provides for three scenarios with a different number of games on free-to-air television.

If all 380 games in the third-highest professional league are purchased from one or more pay providers, the DFB has a restriction: In this case, at least ten of these matches must be broadcast on free TV.

Two other variants are also possible.

In one scenario, it would again be 86 games on free TV.

In another, even 114 games are possible on free-to-air television.

Rights buyers have a say in kick-off times.

In the Friday games, the possible corridor for the kick-off is between 6:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

For Saturday there is a range from 1.30 p.m. to 2 p.m., for Sunday from 1.30 p.m. to 3.15 p.m.

Unlike last time, the rights for the 3rd division are not offered together with those for women's football.

The tenders for the 3rd league and women's league only run at the same time.

According to the DFB, the decision on the award is expected to be made in early October.

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The rights for the 3rd division and women's Bundesliga are currently held by Deutsche Telekom in the pay area until mid-2023, which is showing the games on MagentaSport for its customers.

In free TV, the women's Bundesliga rights have been held by the ARD agency SportA since 2018.

The contract with the ARD-ZDF rights marketer currently also includes the women's international matches, which are usually shown in the first and second.

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