North Korea’s KCTV Get Bundesliga Rights

North Korean TV channel KCTV “will reportedly broadcast German Bundesliga games, starting in mid-September,” according to Stefan Merx of the Wall Street Journal Deutschland.

DFL Sports Enterprises CEO Jörg Daubitzer, who is in charge of the Bundesliga’s foreign marketing, “confirmed the deal.”

Daubitzer said: “Our goal is to promote our product in North Korea, so the Bundesliga becomes more popular in that market. The deal does not provide an economic profit.” Daubitzer puts the surprising deal with the “new communist customer” in the category “nice-to-have.” Daubitzer said, “There are only two options in the North Korean market, either no coverage, or one type of coverage, which is sold under value.” Live coverage of the Bundesliga could start as early as the upcoming game day on Sept. 14-16. Details of the deal “have not been released.”

However, KCTV has the right to broadcast one Bundesliga or one 2nd Bundesliga game per week. In the case of Bundesliga games, KCTV can use satellite technique to broadcast games live. Second Bundesliga games, on the other hand, will only be available tape delayed to the North Korean audience. The TV rights deal “was brokered between the German Football League (DFL) and Tokyo-based sports marketing agency Evolution” in August. In addition, California-based sports rights agency KJ Sports n Media, which “owns the Bundesliga broadcasting rights for the North and South Korea regions,” was highly involved in the signing of the contract.