Sky Deutschland, the prominent German pay-TV broadcaster, has secured rights to North American ice hockey’s NHL for the next four seasons.
From the start of the 2021-22 campaign next month to the end of the 2024-25 season, Sky will cover 300 live NHL games each year.
Go deeper with GlobalData
In addition to offering German coverage of the league, the pay-TV broadcaster will also cover the NHL in Austria, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.
The rights include the NHL regular season, the Stanley Cup playoffs, the NHL Winter Classic, the All-Star Game and all games from the Stanley Cup finals.
For the previous four-year NHL international media rights cycle, which came to an end following the conclusion of the 2020-21 campaign earlier this year, international over-the-top streaming platform DAZN held pay-TV rights in those DACH German-speaking countries.
See Also:
Sport1, meanwhile, provided free-to-air coverage for a small number of matches over those three years, and it is still a possibility that the same network will do so again for the next cycle until 2025.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataThe games which Sky will show will, for the most part, be exclusive, however, with all other matches not shown by the pay-TV broadcaster available to a German audience through the league's own nhl.tv streaming service.
David Proper, the NHL’s senior executive president of media and international strategy, has now said: “The partnership with Sky is an important part of our ongoing efforts to promote our game around the world and bring the international stars of our sport home to passionate fans in their home countries. Sky has a proven track record of delivering sports broadcasting at the highest level and building brands in Germany.”
In addition to the coverage mentioned above, Sky will also cover NHL Saturday and NHL Sunday, with those slots providing weekend games for NHL fans in Europe at friendlier time slots for that audience.
The NHL has said that select games from the deal will be covered by German-language commentary, with English being the first language for all matches.
Earlier this week it was announced that US media giant Walt Disney and its US sports broadcaster ESPN will show North American ice hockey’s NHL in 109 countries globally for the upcoming season under the new long-term partnership with the league.
The broadcaster will provide NHL coverage across Australia, New Zealand, South America, the Caribbean, parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
In Spanish-speaking South America and Brazil, Disney and ESPN coverage of the NHL will be available on the recently launched Star+ streaming service and on ESPN channels.
Star+ is Walt Disney’s new general entertainment and sports streaming service which was launched in Latin America on 31 August. It will also show the NHL in Mexico and Central America.
In Europe, ESPN Player will provide complete coverage of every NHL game each season in Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Turkey, as well as Cyprus, Malta, Romania, San Marino and Vatican City.
In Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, ESPN and ESPN2 will televise a minimum of two regular-season NHL games per week, while every game will be streamed on the ESPN app.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, ESPN will show the top ice hockey league on both the ESPN Africa network and ESPN Player with two games per week during the regular season, while in the Caribbean, ESPN’s coverage of the NHL will be on both ESPN Play and ESPN networks.
ESPN landed rights to the NHL for seven years starting with the 2021-22 season back in March.
The 2021-22 season will begin on 12 October with Tampa Bay Lightning taking on the Pittsburgh Penguins in the season opener.
