New Salvo in Soccer TV Rights Row

Premiere CEO Georg Kofler said German soccer should be an entirely pay-TV affair, firing the latest salvo in the looming battle over Bundesliga television rights. The head of Germany's only pay-television broadcaster said that because Premiere already pays for the right to broadcast Bundesliga games, those games shouldn't be shown, in abbreviated form, an hour later. Currently, German public broadcaster ARD has the rights to use highlights and clips from Saturday's Bundesliga games in their popular, and free, Saturday evening Sportschau show. The broadcast starts a little under an hour after most Bundesliga games end on Saturday. "If nothing changes, then we'll pay less money (for the rights)," Kofler said. With the rights expiring this year, Premiere is trying to position itself for to get complete control over Bundesliga broadcasting - and lure more subscribers to their pay-TV channel.