German regulator investigates Sky-DAZN Champions League deal

German competition authority, the Bundeskartellamt, has launched an investigation into Sky Deutschland‘s Champions League broadcasting deal with streaming service DAZN.

The regulator is examining whether the co-operation between the two companies restricts competition, as there is currently no free TV coverage of Champions League live matches in Germany and several matches of German clubs are now exclusively available via OTT.

“The new season marks some changes for television viewers in Germany. Sky and DAZN are two major premium sports content providers in subscription television. We are examining when and in what form the cooperation between the two companies was established and whether the cooperation promotes competition in the interest of consumers or restricts it,” said Andreas Mundt, president of the Bundeskartellamt.

In 2017 Sky acquired the broadcasting rights for all Champions League matches in Germany for the period 2018-2021 and subsequently divided these with DAZN, making the two companies the sole broadcasters of the European football tournament from this season.

The Bundeskartellamt said it will in the first instance request information from Sky, DAZN and other market players in order to investigate the precise sequence of events regarding the tender procedure for the broadcasting rights.