Sky Sports News HD goes free-to-air in Germany

Sky Deutschland is taking its Sky Sports News HD channel free-to-air.

The channel will become free-to-view on December 1, offering rolling news, exclusive live sports, highlights packages, documentaries and magazine shows to German viewers.

The channel will broadcast, free-to-air, a Bundesliga football match between FSV Mainz and Bayern Munich on December 2, simulcast on pay TV channel Sky Sports 1 HD Bundesliga.

Sky said the move had met with enthusiasm from advertisers, with an 87% utilization of ad space on the first two days.

Thomas Deissenberger, the CEO of Sky’s ad sales arm Sky Media said that the launch of the channel free-to-air was a milestone in the development of the pay TV platform. He said that the service would be a great showcase for the Sky brand.

Separately, Liberty Global-owned cable operator Unitymedia is to carry both SD and HD formats of Sky Sports News as part of an expansion of its offering.

Unitymedia will also carry Sky Cinema Family HD in its Sky Film package in Baden-Württemberg, while Unitymedia customers with an HD package will also receive Eurosport 1 HD from December 1.