BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - According to Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Sky will no longer be showing the conference of Bundesliga matches on Saturday afternoons from the coming season. The internet sports channel DAZN, which is also subject to a fee, has secured package A with the rights for the conference broadcast, which is a Sky invention. The rights for the 79 Sunday matches (package D) also went to DAZN.

Sky also received the controversial package B in the second attempt at the TV rights auction. The pay-TV broadcaster was awarded the live broadcasts of the Bundesliga on Saturdays at 3.30 pm and on Friday evenings, as well as the relegation matches. Sky also received package C from the German Football League (DFL), which includes the matches on Saturday at 6.30 p.m. and the Supercup. It is the smallest package with 34 matches, but is in high demand thanks to the top matches. The "Bild" newspaper reported similar information.

The DFL and Sky did not comment initially, nor did DAZN. The results of the auction are to be officially announced on Thursday after the DFL general meeting.

Allocation of rights since Monday

The DFL has been auctioning off the TV rights for the Bundesliga since Monday. In the first week, the main focus was on the pay-TV matches, which account for by far the largest share of Bundesliga revenue. The DFL offer consists of a total of 15 TV packages for the 2025/26 to 2028/29 seasons, each of which will be awarded to the highest bidding broadcasters and media companies.

This is the second attempt at the auction, after the first attempt had to be aborted after just one day in April. Following the fierce dispute between the DFL and internet broadcaster DAZN over a bank guarantee in the awarding of rights pact B with 196 live matches, the German Institution of Arbitration (DIS) ruled that the award made at the time to pay-TV broadcaster Sky was invalid. But DAZN was not awarded the contract either. The DIS ruling: the auction starts all over again.

What happens to the ARD "Sportschau"?

In the second week of the auction, the packages for free-to-air TV will be awarded within three days. The DFL offer for the early summaries on Saturday contains a few complicated details that will put ARD in particular under pressure with its "Sportschau". Package I is available in two variants, called Kompakt and Klassik.

With Kompakt, the highlights would be shown on free-to-air television on Saturdays between 7.15 and 8.15 pm. Pay providers can even indirectly co-finance the end of "Sportschau" by making an additional payment. The Klassik model allows summaries from 6.00 pm. They would retain the "Sportschau" in its current form. A short version from 7.15 p.m. is out of the question for ARD, according to broadcaster circles. ARD's "Tagesschau" is broadcast at 8.00 p.m. /mrs/DP/mis