Network4, the Hungarian pay-television broadcaster, has today secured exclusive live rights in its home market to German soccer’s top-tier Bundesliga, in a four-year deal.
From the start of the 2021-22 Bundesliga campaign in August, Network4 will show more than 300 matches per season from the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga, plus the German Supercup and the end-of-season relegation playoffs.
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There will also be feature-style programming such as the Bundesliga Highlights show and Bundesliga Weekly.
The agreement with the Bundesliga International division of the league covers the 2021-22 to 2024-25 seasons, and coverage will be available on both the liner Network4 channels (mainly Arena4), and also on its newly-launched over-the-top platform Arena4+.
Some matches will be shown on the network’s main channel TV4.
SportTV, a pay-TV network available in several Eastern European countries, has held Bundesliga rights in Hungary during the 2017-18 to 2020-21 cycle.
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By GlobalDataAndras Borsány-Gyenes, chairman of the Network4 board, said today: "Our goal is to take the Bundesliga broadcast experience to the next level. Arena4 and Arena4+, together with Bundesliga International, ensure that, making each and every game across the two leagues available.”
Robert Klein, Bundesliga International’s chief executive, added: "Bundesliga has always been a stage where Hungarian players have shone. This latest agreement highlights the popularity of the Bundesliga and we look forward to working with Network4.”
Late last month, pay-TV’s Sky Italia renewed its Bundesliga coverage rights agreement for the next four seasons, to the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
Sky will provide coverage on its linear channels and on its Now streaming platform.
Also in April, Bundesliga International extended its agreements with Nordic Entertainment, the regional media giant, across nine European countries, through to 2029.
Under the deal, NENT will show the matches through its Viaplay streaming service in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland over two cycles.
NENT had already secured Bundesliga rights in those countries for the 2021-22 to 2024-25 period but the two-cycle commitment is the first of its kind for both the broadcaster and the league.
Other contracts agreed in Europe by Bundesliga International for the cycle beginning in 2021-22 include those with United Media (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia), and Setanta Sports (Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Belarus).
In Germany itself, rights have been retained by pay-TV's Sky Deutschland, and over-the-top platform DAZN.
