The Bundesliga starts its new season on Friday. If you want to follow your club’s games live, you have to dig deeper into your pockets than in previous years. But at least a few games can also be seen on free TV.
Without a subscription, there is only a very limited TV offer for the Bundesliga for football fans. One provider has drastically increased the prices, another promises at least a new and cheap combination offer. An overview of the most important channels and programs:
Where are there live games on free TV?
Sat.1 is allowed to show the few games on free-to-air television. The free TV broadcaster starts on Friday with the Eintracht Frankfurt game against Bayern Munich (8:30 p.m.), but this season cannot show any live broadcasts on the 17th and 18th matchdays. The World Cup in Qatar is to blame, leading to an early and long league winter break. Instead, the free TV broadcaster received replacement dates from the German Football League (DFL).
Sat.1 will now broadcast a match from matchday 15 live on November 11th and, after the winter break, a match from matchday 16 next year on January 20th. The rights package acquired from the DFL also includes the Supercup, four relegation games and the opening game of the 2nd Bundesliga.
What else is free?
The largest offer without additional costs is available from the two public broadcasters. The anchor point of the ARD remains the “Sportschau” on Saturday with summaries of the games in the afternoon and Friday’s game. The first also reports on the Sunday evening in the first and in the 3rd programs on the games of the day.
ZDF’s flagship is still the “Aktuelle Sportstudio” on Saturday evening with highlights of the 3:30 p.m. matches and the late top game. Sport1 offers summaries on Sunday mornings. On Mondays from midnight, three providers show highlight clips on the Internet: ARD, ZDF and Sport1.
Where are the other live games of the 1st league running?
Sky continues to show most of the first division games. 200 league games are played on Saturdays, both the games at 3.30 p.m. and the top game at 6.30 p.m. In addition, the pay channel offers the encounters during the English weeks and the conference on Saturday afternoons.
DAZN broadcasts 106 first division games live. The fee-based Internet provider shows the game on Friday evening and the two matches on Sunday afternoon. DAZN is also allowed to show games on Sundays at 7.30 p.m. ten times per season.
What does this cost?
Live football on TV costs a lot of money, DAZN is almost twice as expensive as a year ago. The cost of a monthly subscription has increased from 14.99 to 29.99 euros. The cheapest option for a DAZN subscription is EUR 24.99 per month with a one-year contract.
Sky is currently advertising an offer that costs 20 euros per month for new customers in the first year and then 32 euros for an annual subscription. This Bundesliga package includes the 1st and 2nd leagues, but not the DFB Cup and the Premier League.
Sky has recently added a subscription combined with DAZN. This costs EUR 38.99 per month in the first year, then EUR 61.99. Euro. This includes not only all games in the 1st and 2nd leagues but also a large part of the games in the Champions League.
Who is showing the 2nd Bundesliga?
Sky is showing all games for its customers from the second division that has already started. The free-to-air channel Sport1 is allowed to broadcast 33 games per season, mostly on Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. There are regular summaries on ARD and on Fridays from 10:30 p.m. on One.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
