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Deutsche Telekom, Sky split over IPTV
Jörn Krieger ©RapidTVNews | 20-09-2009
German telco Deutsche Telekom and Sky Deutschland have not been able to reach an agreement over the continuation of the distribution of Sky’s pay-TV package on IPTV platform T-Home Entertain.
Telekom has informed affected customers in writing that Sky has terminated its contract with Telekom. “This cancellation came completely by surprise to us,” the letter stated. The subscription offer of the Premiere successor will therefore not be available on T-Home Entertain from 25 September. “For this reason we regret that your contract for Entertain Premiere will be prematurely terminated with effect on 24 September,” subscribers were informed.
Telekom offers affected customers its pay-TV package Big TV or the soccer Bundesliga channel LIGA total! for six months without charge. Sky confirmed the termination of the carriage contract in August in its 2009 half-year report.
The reason for the withdrawal is the new competitive situation between Sky and Telekom over soccer Bundesliga coverage. T-Home Entertain previously screened footage produced by Sky’s predecessor Premiere, but for the current season has been offering its own service, dubbed LIGA total!, compiled by media company Constantin Medien. The new offer is accompanied by a broad-scale advertising campaign to compete more effectively against Sky.
“Telekom is carrying out a very aggressive marketing strategy against us,” a Sky spokesman said in August. He added that this had “considerably damaged” the “mutual trust” between both sides and removed the foundation for continuing the collaboration, prompting Sky to cancel its contract with Telekom. Through the campaign, Telekom hoped to prompt subscribers of Premiere’s Bundesliga offer to switch to LIGA total!
Until recently, Telekom hoped to reach an agreement with Sky. The telco said in August that negotiations with the pay-TV operator were still underway. The withdrawal from Telekom’s IPTV platform will lead to a drop in Sky’s subscription figures. T-Home Entertain currently has more than 800,000 customers, but it is not known how many of those are Sky subscribers.
© Rapid TV News 2009
