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DAZN logo on a television: The streaming service became significantly more expensive in 2022
Photo: Christoph Hardt / imago images / Future Image
Last year, the live sports provider DAZN massively increased its subscription prices - to the annoyance of numerous customers, who should now pay around 30 instead of 15 euros for a monthly subscription, for example.
The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) has just announced that it is planning a so-called model declaratory action against DAZN because it considers the price increase to be illegal, at least for existing customers of the service.
There is talk of a non-transparent clause in the general terms and conditions (GTC) of the streaming service.
It remains to be seen whether the initiative by consumer advocates will actually result in some DAZN subscribers getting money back one day.
In a first step, the vzbv is currently looking for those affected who will provide documents on the case.
When asked by SPIEGEL, a DAZN spokesman commented that his company was still convinced that the terms and conditions of the service “are in line with applicable law”.
DAZN justified its price increases primarily with investments in broadcasting rights and a range that has grown over the years.
DAZN can now be subscribed to in three variants
The service apparently continues to turn the price screw, albeit initially only for customers who book a new subscription.
For them, DAZN has fundamentally changed its pricing model this week.
So far, there has essentially been a monthly and a slightly cheaper annual subscription, but now there are three variants of DAZN.
These are called DAZN Standard, DAZN World and DAZN Unlimited, with Unlimited being the combination of the other two packages.
DAZN World, on the other hand, is a starter package that only costs 9.99 euros a month.
With a few exceptions such as the British FA Cup, it hardly contains any live football broadcasts.
Darts competitions, handball games, wrestling shows and tennis tournaments are part of this flat rate.
On the other hand, if you want to watch Bundesliga or Champions League games, you need at least the standard package, which can be canceled monthly at EUR 29.99 – which corresponds to the price for which you have seen everything on DAZN so far.
The standard package now also includes DAZN's live broadcasts from the popular areas of American football (NFL), basketball (NBA) and mixed martial arts (UFC).
Almost everything that is in the world package is missing here.
Some save, some pay more
In practice, this means that if you are only interested in darts, for example, DAZN will be cheaper for you because you only need the world package for it.
Soccer fans among the new customers, meanwhile, will continue to pay about the same in the future.
But if you want to see the Bundesliga and the FA Cup, for example, which is included in the World package, you end up with an unlimited subscription.
And its price is tough, with an annual subscription of 30 euros per month and even 40 euros with a monthly jump option.
DAZN has a new maximum price for its complete package, which is ten euros higher than the controversial 30 euros from the previous year.
The new, three-tier system should initially have no effect on current DAZN subscriptions.
"Currently" no changes are planned for existing customers, according to an online explanation page, which also shows all package limits in detail.
According to DAZN, all subscriptions that were active before the current price model adjustment or are currently only paused will automatically have access to all the content of the Unlimited package at no extra charge.
A sign against account sharing
What is also remarkable about the new subscription distribution is that DAZN's new offers apparently make account sharing more difficult: So far, at least, DAZN subscriptions have also been advertised for new customers as containing two simultaneous streams.
That sounds different now: According to the official information page, only DAZN Unlimited will offer two simultaneous streams in the future, and up to six players can be registered at the same time.
DAZN Standard and DAZN World, on the other hand, are advertised with only one stream and three devices each.
The service made it clear last year that DAZN does not want several people to share its streaming subscription.
Its terms of use explicitly state: »Unless your paid membership during the registration process expressly provides otherwise, your user account including your password is only valid for you personally and may not be shared with other people or made accessible to them.«
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