Dortmund – Mainz: Public viewing prohibited

With the championship in mind, Dortmund wanted to invite everyone to the big public viewing on the last day of the game. However, the rights for the live images are held by the pay-TV provider Sky – and he sees it “basically not as an option”.

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There will be no public viewing in Dortmund for the Bundesliga final. One day after the announcement by the city of Dortmund, the rights holder Sky confirmed the decision on Wednesday. The pay TV broadcaster justified the rejection with its business model. This is based “on revenue from subscribers, which include a large number of hoteliers and restaurateurs,” said Sky. The so-called sky bars have to pay license fees to the company for transmissions.

Public viewing “basically not an option”

“In order to protect their interests and not create a precedent, but also to treat inquiries and Bundesliga clubs equally, public viewing is not an option for us,” said Sky. At the same time, the pay station referred to “many ways to track the decisions: as Sky-Abonnentas a WOW customer or in the numerous sports bars”.

Dortmund knocked in vain on Sky for live pictures

The city of Dortmund reported on Tuesday about the plans for the championship celebrations in the event of Borussia Dortmund’s success. Accordingly, “at least 200,000 fans” are expected for the car parade planned for Sunday. BVB is playing its home game against FSV Mainz 05 this Saturday (3:30 p.m. / Sky). Dortmund’s Lord Mayor Thomas Westphal pointed out that it was not possible to agree on the use of the signal for a possible public viewing with the broadcaster Sky.

Before the last game of the season, BVB is two points ahead of FC Bayern at the top of the table. At the same time, the Munich team play in Cologne and have to hope for a blunder from Dortmund. Sky also shows the two decisive games on the last Bundesliga Saturday of the season as a championship conference on the Sky Sport Top-Event channel.

^{Source: dpa; Editors: André Beyer, Richard W. Schaber}

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