German top-flight league Bundesliga have signed a 3-season deal with South Korean media giant CJ ENM for broadcasting of the league in South Korea. The aforementioned deal will extend from 2021-22 to 2023-24 season.
The deal will see CJ ENM broadcast all Bundesliga games, the annual German Supercup and the relegation playoffs. These games will be aired live and exclusive across its TVN and XTVN linear pay-television channels and on its sister OTT platform Tving. As per reports, the league received several offers for obtaining the TV rights, but Bundesliga decided to go ahead with CJ ENM.
Prior to this partnership, Bundesliga had a deal in place with commercial broadcaster KBS. Broadcaster KBS had acquired the rights last year in a ‘1+1 year’ deal, covering 2020-21 and with an option to extend for 2021-22. Due to financial reasons cited, both parties decided not to extend for the optional second year and Bundesliga resold its rights.
During the last Bundesliga season, nine Korean players featured for their clubs in the German league. Therefore, continued the long history of Korean players and fan involvement in one of Europe’s top 5 leagues.
On the announcement of this partnership, Bundesliga International CEO Robert Klein said, “Korean players have long been a part of the Bundesliga’s rich history, from the legendary Bum-Kun Cha to Woo-Yeong Jeong and Hee-Chan Hwang playing today. An important part of our agreement with CJ E&M was that we would work together to enhance the action on the pitch, by bringing fans the real stories of our players, and we look forward to doing that.”
As part of the deal, CJ ENM will work on promoting the German league through its different media platforms including digital and outdoor advertising. It is also expected to bring in entertainment personnel associated with the company and widen the league’s horizon within the country by developing more creative content for the fans.
Speaking on this exclusive partnership with Bundesliga, Kyo-eun Koo, Head of Sports at CJ ENM, said, “Through acquiring the broadcast rights of one of Europe’s top football leagues, we aim to continue the positive momentum generated by broadcasting Euro 2020. We will thrive to bring more exciting and high-quality Bundesliga content to the enthusiastic Korean football fans.”
Prior to this deal, CJ ENM within the last 12-15 months has already struck broadcasting agreements with Asian Football Confederation for the 2021-24 cycle and UEFA for the ongoing EURO 2020 tournament.