North American ice-hockey's NHL is set to receive free-to-air (FTA) coverage in Germany for the remainder of the 2026-27 campaign, via a deal expansion between the league and commercial broadcaster RTL Deutschland.
Through a tie-up unveiled today, RTL will air 'Monday Night Hockey' every week in European primetime for the rest of the season, on its Nitro FTA channel.
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All 11 Monday Night Hockey games until the end of the campaign will be shown on Nitro, with this news coming following RTL's acquisition of pay-TV giant Sky Deutschland, which had a pre-existing deal in place to be the NHL's existing main partner in the DACH region.
RTL's deal to take over Sky was confirmed in early June, and involved RTL paying an "upfront cash consideration" of €68 million ($79.2 million at the time) to Sky Deutschland's owner up to this point, US heavyweight media entity Comcast.
The first Monday Night Hockey game under the terms of this deal comes on November 30, as the Ottawa Senators – featuring Germany's Tim Stutzle – take on the Nashville Predators (at 6:45 PM local time for a German audience).
In addition, RTL will provide live coverage of the two regular-season NHL games set to take place in Germany next month, as well as the four games scheduled for 2027-28 in that market.
The NHL Global Series Germany (presented by Kaufland, through a deal announced last week) will see the Senators play two games in Dusseldorf against the Chicago Blackhawks, on December 18 and 20.
Both events will be shown live by Nitro, the RTL+ digital streaming service, and also by Sky.
The quartet of 2027-28 Germany NHL games, meanwhile, will take place across Munich and Cologne, with teams yet to be determined.
The Sky Deutschland-NHL deal is a long-term affair that was unveiled in May 2025. It entails Sky airing over 300 NHL games live per campaign, including the post-season playoffs and Stanley Cup final coverage.
Around one-third of the total number of contracted NHL players are European, with the DACH region specifically one of the league's specific targeted growth areas.
David Proper, chief media officer and executive vice president at the NHL, said: "Expanding on our partnership with RTL Deutschland to showcase NHL Monday Night Hockey in prime time represents an important step in bringing the game to more households and strengthening our connection with fans throughout the country."
In terms of recent NHL activity in Germany, the Kaufland tie-up sees the brand become the league's official grocery retail partner in Germany, Czechia, and Slovakia, in addition to the presenting sponsorship element.
Late last month, meanwhile, the NHL unveiled a major agreement – Europe-wide – with global logistics and delivery giant DHL.
That deal covers the Germany games, as well as a pair of games taking place in Finland later this month, featuring the Carolina Hurricanes and Seattle Kraken.
