The main 2006 event will be the FIFA World Cup in Germany.
Illustrating the new broadcasting climate in Europe, private broadcasters succeeded in acquiring part of the whole broadcasting rights.
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RTL becomes the first German private broadcaster ever to obtain broadcasting rights to World Cup matches. The leading German channel will broadcast 8 Sunday matches excluding the final. RTL will also show summaries of all matches during its news coverage and a daily World Cup magazine. |
For the first time in Hungarian history, a private TV channel will broadcast the World Cup. RTL KLUB has secured the broadcasting rights for all 64 games. RTL KLUB is definitely the football channel in Hungary as the channel has a contract with the Hungarian league till 2007.
In Benelux, the Dutch RTL5 will broadcast at least 8 matches of the competition while in North Belgium VTM and VT4 jointly bought the exclusive TV rights of WC 2006.
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But all fans have to wait 10 months before the start of this competition and are in the meantime focusing on national leagues and the champions’ league.
This year many football experts bet that Champions’ League will reach high ratings in Belgium as 2 popular teams, including Anderlecht, are involved in the competition. |
Club RTL owns the rights of the competition in South Belgium until 2009 and will broadcast matches on Tuesdays and Wednesdays’ prime-time. The live coverage will be complemented with highlights and magazine.
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In North Belgium, Kanaal Twee has signed a 3-year contract with Champions’ League starting next year. Kanaal Twee also broadcast the UEFA cup matches of Flemish teams Club Brugge and Racing Genk as well as a live top match of a foreign championship on Sunday afternoon.
Both KanaalTwee and Club RTL also broadcast the Belgian cup and the matches of the National Team, the Red Devils |
In the Netherlands, as of last August RTL 5 offers a weekly live match of the Dutch 1st league on Friday evening, an exclusivity in Free-TV. Moreover RTL 5 gathers all fans by broadcasting popular magazines around footbal such as Voetball insite (talk magazine with guests).
In France, M6 has considerably increased its football coverage with a new weekly highlights/ talk football magazine called “100% foot” on Sunday nights as well as the live matches of the Olympic Marseille in the UEFA cup and highlights of top French clubs such as Girondins de Bordeaux...
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