The DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL) has undertaken towards the Bundeskartellamt to observe comprehensive criteria when awarding media rights for the matches of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 from the 2021/22 season onwards. DFL had offered various self-commitments, in particular a so-called 'no single buyer' rule, to dispel the authority`s competition law concerns. The Bundeskartellamt has now declared the commitments offered as legally binding.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “For us it was important to ensure that no single bidder can exclusively acquire all live rights and act as a monopolist in providing coverage for viewers. One single supplier with exclusive rights would hardly have any incentives to improve the quality of coverage, keep prices stable and make full use of the potential for innovation provided in particular by the internet. Increasing competition in the current period has already resulted in new products being offered by both new and incumbent suppliers.”

In principle, DFL's joint selling of the media rights relating to the individual football matches represents an anti-competitive agreement. However, under German and European competition law such an agreement can be exempted from the ban on restrictive practices if it results in specific advantages for which such a restraint of competition is indispensable. As in other national leagues and at the international level, it is acknowledged in Germany that the joint selling of media rights by a central association involves many advantages for consumers and can thus be acceptable under competition law if certain preconditions are met. One advantage is e.g. the simplified organisation of the leagues’ matches, the provision of high-quality league-related products such as the ‘conference’ coverage of Saturday matches played at the same time, and the timely coverage of highlights. The Bundeskartellamt has therefore stipulated that the award of media rights be subject to certain competition requirements. Within this framework, DFL has some scope as to how to fulfil these requirements.

As in the previous award of media rights, the Bundeskartellamt has called for rules which ensure that no single supplier can exclusively acquire the rights to all matches, and thus enable competition between different TV and streaming providers. The award of rights should result in more than one supplier broadcasting football matches. This requirement does not automatically mean that viewers need more than one subscription to be able to view all the matches. As in the previous award procedure, DFL still has several options for meeting the authority’s competition law requirements without viewers who would like to watch all the matches live having to purchase different subscriptions.

According to the marketing model proposed by DFL for the 2021/22 to 2024/25 seasons, the broadcasting rights are to be sold within the framework of an auction for live games in four packages (Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, Friday/Sunday and Saturday conference). Every package covers all transmission channels (satellite, cable, internet). It is not possible for a single bidder to acquire all of the four packages exclusively (‘no single buyer’ rule). Based on this requirement the specific bids submitted by the participating bidders can result in different outcomes. For example, DFL can grant individual packages of rights to different acquirers if they submit bids to this effect. However, DFL could also grant all of the four packages of rights covering all transmission channels to one single acquirer. In this case, DFL will grant two of the four packages on a co-exclusive basis to a second acquirer for OTT coverage.

For the Bundeskartellamt it has also been important that the auction’s design, procedures and rules for granting bids include essential competitive elements. It is also to be welcomed that in the future the acquirers of broadcasting rights for live matches will have more flexibility in organising their live coverage.