Austrian soccer's top-tier Bundesliga has renewed its main domestic rights deal with the country's pay-TV heavyweight Sky Austria through 2029-30.
The four-year tie-up unveiled today will see Sky Austria retain the rights to air all 195 Bundesliga matches per season, starting from the 2026-27 campaign.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
In addition, Sky Austria holds highlights rights for all fixtures, as well as "extensive free online rights including sub-licensing options."
Specifically, Sky will continue to hold online clip rights (between three and five minutes each game) for each Bundesliga fixture and can also continue to post clips on its social media channels.
Finally, Sky's package is rounded off by "the re-exploitation and news coverage of all games, as well as individual games that can be shown free of charge in full length for promotional purposes."
The current deal through which Sky covers action from the Austrian league domestically dates back to mid-2021, and runs through the 2025-26 Bundesliga season, which got underway earlier this month.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataThat deal is reportedly worth €40 million (at the time of writing, $46.6 million) annually.
This extension between Sky Austria and that country's top-tier soccer league comes after the league announced in early July that public service broadcaster ORF will retain its rights to co-exclusively air four Bundesliga matches per season live – two first-choice and two second-choice games – as well as highlights and short reporting rights for all 195 matches each campaign, through 2028-29.
Starting from the 2026-27 season, a highlights program will be broadcast on Sunday evenings on the ORF 1 channel, while ‘English rounds’ will be aired on Wednesdays. ORF currently holds the same rights package for the current 2022-23 to 2025-26 cycle.
Rights to the second-tier 2. Liga for the next cycle, meanwhile, was awarded to sports data and technology firm Sportradar, which will show all 240 matches via its Laola.tv streaming platform, at that time.
Additionally, betting rights for both leagues, including streaming and data rights, have been awarded to Sportradar.
Christian Ebenbauer, chief executive at the Bundesliga, has now said: "We went through an extensive, intensive process and presented the clubs with two options with classic licensing and self-exploitation. As a result, the advantages of continuing the proven partnership between the Bundesliga and Sky have prevailed. If you look at all the rights packages awarded, there is a revenue structure that allows the clubs to plan and be stable in economically challenging times."
Michael Radelsberger, Sky Austria's managing director, added: "The extension of our partnership until 2030 is a strong signal for Austria as a business location – and good news for all domestic football fans, to whom we continue to offer the best sporting experience."
In terms of Sky Austria's other major soccer rights, it also covers the vast majority of matches from the 2024-27 cycle of the pan-European UEFA Champions League, through a deal unveiled in late 2022.
