Deutsche Telekom recently signed up to acquire the media rights to broadcast four global football tournaments in the years 2025 to 2027. The company should be able to make the „ambitious business case“ a success, Head of Private Customers Wolfgang Metze explained at a Berlin press conference on the rights deal.

The men's World Cup, which will take place next year in the USA, Mexico and Canada, is the most important of the four tournaments, with a total of 272 matches. Deutsche Telekom does not provide information on the costs of the XXL rights package, but observers assume that they will be higher for the 2026 World Cup than for the last World Cup in Qatar, because there will be significantly more matches. This time there will be 72 games in the preliminary round alone, compared to a total of 64 games previously. The tournament will last six weeks. For ARD and ZDF alone, the licence costs for previous tournaments have already been estimated at around 200 million euros.

The comprehensive agreement with FIFA also includes the 2025 and 2027 U20 World Cups, and the 2027 Women's World Cup. „We have all the rights,“ emphasised Metze, who highlighted the possibility of non-linear transmission via various channels and end devices as a critical success factor for Telekom.

According to Metze, there is no shortage of interested parties for sub-licences. In Germany, all matches with the national team must also be shown free of charge on public broadcasters. The same applies to the opening match, semi-final and final, „although we are of course hoping that there will be some congruence,“ said the manager. Telekom is already talking to „existing partners“, but he does not expect the aforementioned compulsory licences to play a particularly important role in the overall business plan.

According to Nejc Jakopin, telecoms expert and partner at Arthur D. Little, sports media rights have become a hotly contested asset. „Many large streaming providers such as Amazon Prime and Netflix have entered the live sports broadcasting market, because experience has shown that customer interest is high and there is a corresponding willingness to pay,“ says Jakopin. The manager assumes that sub-licences are likely to be a „significant factor in Telekom's refinancing mix.

Football broadcasting rights such as the Bundesliga have proven to be extremely difficult or hardly viable for TV providers in Germany in particular. But Jakopin assumes that one-off deals such as those with FIFA offer better opportunities. In his view, they can „support the strategy of telecommunications companies well by contributing to customer loyalty, and also to the acquisition of new customers“.

Telekom is also optimistic because, according to its own statements, it has „significantly exceeded“ the targets it set itself for UEFA Euro 2024. In particular, its reach has been noticeably strengthened. Magenta TV now has around 5 million customers.