Bundeskartellamt defends no single buyer rule

Germany’s federal cartel office the Bundeskartellamt has moved to defend its new ‘no single buyer’ rule for rights to the country’s Bundesliga top division of club football.

In April 2016, the Bundeskartellamt confirmed that it would enforce the rule in the tender for the next circle of domestic broadcast rights to the Bundesliga, spanning the 2017-18 to 2020-21 seasons.

German pay-television broadcaster Sky Deutschland previously held all rights to the competition and also the second-tier 2.Bundesliga in Germany, in a deal that ended with the 2016-17 season.

Sky in June 2016 issued a complaint to the Higher Regional Court in Dusseldorf over the matter, but the case was dismissed earlier this year.

Bundeskartellamt president Andreas Mundt has now spoken out in defence of the new rule, telling German newspaper Bild the move will help to create more “innovation” in the market.

Mundt said: “If you have several players in the market, this promotes innovation and the customer can choose between different formats.”