Streaminganbieter
DAZN, Sky and Co: If you want to watch football live in the future, you have to dig deep into your pocket
Streaming provider DAZN broadcasts games from the Bundesliga and the Champions League, among other things. The costs for the television rights are passed on to the subscribers.
© Federico Gambarini / DPA
Many football fans’ jaws dropped on Tuesday: DAZN increased the prices for new customers by 100 percent. The increase was foreseeable, DAZN has to somehow recover the costs for premium sports rights.
A price increase usually does not bring joy. The price increase that the Internet provider DAZN announced on Tuesday resulted in a veritable tornado of indignation. On February 1, the streaming service will drastically increase the fees for new customers: from EUR 14.99 a month to EUR 29.99. The annual subscription will cost EUR 274.99 instead of EUR 149.99. For existing customers, the price will remain at 14.99 euros until July 31, but it is still unclear how things will continue after that. “It is not yet clear what the price structure will look like from August 1,” said the streaming service on Twitter – which does not mean that there will not be a price increase for existing customers.
How has the price developed at DAZN?
When DAZN came onto the market in Germany in 2016, it started with a competitive price – but also with a significantly slimmed-down package. The service offered no Bundesliga, no Champions League, but the Premier League – for EUR 9.99 a month at the time. In the past two years, however, DAZN has raised prices: in the summer of 2019 it rose to EUR 11.99 per month, since last August it has been EUR 14.99 and from February 2022 it will be EUR 29.99. Common: Only with the changeover to the new prices and the conclusion of a new subscription does DAZN offer an annual subscription with monthly payment. Previously, the full amount had to be paid immediately.
Why are prices rising so much?
What started with a rather small program package for the Premier League has now developed into one of the largest sports providers in the world. Although the rights to the English first division were lost to Sky, the company now shows the Friday and Sunday games in the Bundesliga, almost all Champions League games and games from Ligue 1 (France), Serie A (Italy) , the Primera Division (Spain). In addition, there are broadcasts from the NFL, the NBA, wrestling, or the UFC and, most recently, high-class boxing matches – an attack by DAZN on the American market. All these rights are anything but cheap, a price increase was expected. According to “Bild”, DAZN pays around 450 million euros in transmission rights per year in Germany alone. The fact is: DAZN, once the price dream of many football fans, is a business whose expenses have to be profitable somehow. However, it is at least doubtful whether subscribers who only have a subscription for wrestling or the NBA want to pay significantly more in the future.
Who is behind DAZN?
The DAZN construct is indeed somewhat opaque. The British streaming service was founded by the Perform Group, which is now also called the DAZN Group. This in turn belongs to the American investment company Access Industries, which also owns the Warner Music Group and also has shares in the music services Deezer and Spotify. Access Industries is founded and owned by Leonard Blavatnik, who, according to Forbes, is one of the 50 richest people in the world with a fortune of more than $36 billion. On the one hand, Blavatnik is involved as a patron of the arts, but also makes a big attack on the sports rights market. (Read more about Len Blavatnik here)
What will football cost me in the future?
Football fans had been upset about the fragmentation of the sport’s transmission for the past year. Watch Bundesliga live? You need a subscription to Sky and DAZN. The DFB Cup also runs on Sky, the Champions League on DAZN and Amazon Prime, the Europa League and the Conference League on RTL. If you want to see all games live, you have to pay accordingly. The subscription structure at Sky is much more confusing. If you want to receive the Bundesliga and DFB Cup via cable or satellite, you pay 29 euros a month in the first year and then 48 euros from the second year. If you only want to stream via the Internet, you can use the “Supersport” ticket at “Sky Ticket”. This includes both sports offers and costs 29.99 per month or 24.99 per month for an annual subscription in the first year and then 29.99 euros. For DAZN, the well-known 29.99 euros will be due monthly in the future, a membership with Amazon Prime currently costs 7.99 euros a month, membership with RTL +, where all games of the Europa and Conference League are shown – some are also shown in the free Shown on TV – costs five euros a month. Without discounts, football fans will have to pay up to 91 euros a month in the worst case if they want the full football rush – the purely digital version is 73 euros a month. If you then want to treat yourself to the luxury of the third division, you have to shell out up to an additional 16.95 euros a month at Magenta Sport.
