Broadcast agreement with Sky extended for further three seasons

Broadcast agreement with Sky extended for further three seasons ​

EHF Marketing GmbH, the marketing arm of the European Handball Federation, has confirmed that its agreement with Sky Deutschland as the exclusive broadcaster of the VELUX EHF Champions League in Germany and Austria is to be extended for a further three seasons, taking the agreement to the end of the 2019/20 season.

The deal, which started with the 2014/15 season, was brokered by MP & Silva, the leading global media rights agency responsible for the distribution of the media rights for the EHF’s top club competitions.

Sky Deutschland has transformed the coverage of Europe’s top handball competition with extensive background reporting, the development of new camera angles and expert opinion from studio guests.

The channel’s team of commentators and reporters includes well-known personalities from the sport including former player Henning Fritz and coaches Martin Schwalb and Heiner Brand.

Sky Deutschland is rapidly becoming the home of top class club handball in Germany and Austria having recently announced a new deal with the German Bundesliga to show the national league from the start of the 2017/18 season. Sky was also the official broadcaster of the IHF World Championship played in Qatar in 2015.

Commenting on the extension to the agreement, the Managing Director of EHF Marketing GmbH, David Szlezak, said: “Sky has brought a new quality to the reporting of handball over the last few seasons. Given that up to three German teams are represented in the VELUX EHF Champions League, Germany is a very important market for EHF Marketing GmbH.

“We are looking forward to three further seasons of cooperation with our highly professional colleagues at Sky, during which we want to further improve the premium product in European club handball, and in doing so achieve a market position alongside sporting relevance that makes the competition highly attractive for German brands on the international sports sponsorship market.

“Since the beginning of the cooperation in the 2014/15 season, Sky has recognised the attractiveness of the VELUX EHF Champions League and, with the additional cooperation with the national league as well this contract extension, we have paved the way for Sky to become the handball-broadcaster in Germany and Austria.”

Roman Steuer, Executive Vice President Sports for Sky Deutschland, said: "The extension of the rights agreement for the VELUX EHF Champions League is a further high-value addition to the sports portfolio for our subscribers. This, together with the acquisition of the broadcast rights for the DKB Handball Bundesliga, underlines Sky’s position as the home for all handball fans in Germany and Austria.”

About Sky Deutschland

With over 4.6 million customers and an annual turnover of 2 billion Euro, Sky is the market leader on pay-TV market in Germany and Austria. Programming includes live sport, films, TV series, children’s programmes and documentaries. Sky Deutschland is headquartered in Unterföhrung close to Munich and is part of Europe’s leading broadcaster Sky plc. 21.9 million customers in five countries watch the exclusive programming from Sky, whenever and wherever they want.