At the start of the Bundesliga

Sky Sport: “We’ve never had so many customers”

Sky Managing Director Michael Radelsberger already had his hands on what twelve clubs will be chasing by May 2025: the Austrian Champions Plate.

(Bild: Sky/Christian Hofer)

Tomorrow, August 2, the Austrian Bundesliga kicks off the new season with the match between GAK and FC Red Bull Salzburg. All 195 matches will once again be broadcast by Sky. Sky Austria Managing Director Michael Radelsberger and Sky Austria Head of Sport Uwe König give an insight into the present and future of their partnership.

"Krone": Mr. Radelsberger, Mr. König - the domestic Bundesliga kicks off the new season on Friday with the GAK vs. FC Red Bull Salzburg clash - what lessons have you learned from the last one? What was there to improve, adapt or change?
Uwe König: That's a very good question, and one that we are constantly asking ourselves in the editorial team. One innovation is that there will be individual match previews for each match from the coming season. In the past, individual clubs have sometimes been neglected in the pre-match coverage of the conference. Be it due to the topic situation at other clubs or for other reasons. As we want to provide our viewers with the best possible service, we will be offering each club an even greater platform in future. From the new season, we will be creating a customized lead-in for all conference matches on the Sky Sport Austria 2 to 4 subfeed. This will start 15 minutes before kick-off and show relevant interviews, facts and data about the respective clubs.

You can watch all 195 matches live. How much manpower do you need for this and can you roughly estimate the amount of work involved?
König: That's right, we produce all 195 Bundesliga matches and cover them editorially. On a match day with six matches, around 200 people are involved. With 32 match days per season, that's quite a lot of manpower.

How would you rate the attractiveness of the Austrian Bundesliga? Do you notice any positive or negative changes and what are the odds like?
Michael Radelsberger: We are very satisfied and have a positive outlook for the coming season. We have been able to significantly increase the ratings in recent seasons - in the double-digit percentage range - and still see room for improvement

SPÖ party leader Andreas Babler recently appealed for soccer on free TV. How do you feel about this and what value should/should the Bundesliga have for paying consumers at home?
Radelsberger: The demand is not new. In any case, this is a discussion between the league and politicians. If they decide that certain rights are to be put out to tender exclusively for "free-to-air" providers, there will be fewer bidders - which could have an impact on the amount of the license fee. For us, it's best if the rights tender remains open. But if the league believes that a different solution is better for Austrian soccer, we will take note of this and react accordingly.

The Sky studio for the upcoming Bundesliga season is located in Vienna-Auhof and features all kinds of technical refinements.

(Bild: Sky/Max Brucker)

There is constant criticism from soccer fans and Sky subscribers about the high subscription prices. How do you counter this criticism? And how important is the service character and communication with customers in general?
Radelsberger : I think we have very competitive offers at fair prices on the market, both with our classic TV product "Sky Q" and with the streaming service "Sky X". The steady customer growth, also in the sports sector, confirms this. Customer service and communication are a very important pillar of our business. In recent years, we have also made a number of intensive adjustments in this area in order to be faster and more customer-friendly.

The experts are an important point for viewers. With Didi Hamann, Marc Janko, Andi Herzog and co. you have quite a colorful line-up. What criteria do you use to select them?
König : We select our experts according to several carefully chosen criteria to ensure high quality and appeal. Professional expertise is a key aspect. The infotainment character also plays a major role, as it is important to us that our experts can convey information in an appealing and entertaining way. We also pay attention to a good mix and rely on different types to cover a wide range of perspectives and strengths. Especially in soccer, an individual soccer career is an important criterion, as this allows experts to report first-hand and with deeper insight. This goes hand in hand with a certain level of familiarity, which helps to gain the trust and interest of the audience.

Is it more difficult for you to switch back to everyday fare for the fans and viewers after a dazzling European Championship with respectable successes for the Austrian national team?
Radelsberger: Not at all. The fans and the whole country are in a footballing mood and we're taking this mood straight into the new league. The Admiral Bundesliga is promising again this year in terms of excitement and quality. And the international leagues with the UEFA club competitions, the Premier League and the German Bundesliga are a highlight for every soccer fan anyway.

You still have the rights to the complete Bundesliga package until 2026. What will the immediate and more distant future between Sky and the Bundesliga look like in this respect?
Radelsberger: Exactly, we will continue to broadcast all 195 domestic Bundesliga matches up to and including the 2025/26 season. We have a long-standing and successful partnership with the ÖFBL. In the course of our dual role as rights holder and production partner, we have helped to bring the Admiral Bundesliga to the top level it is at today. We expect the rights to be put out to tender and awarded during the first half of 2025. When the time comes, we will take a close look at the tender documents. I can only reiterate that we are happy to be a partner of the Austrian Bundesliga and want to remain so.

Soccer is not only delivered to viewers on pay TV, but on all possible platforms, across all media. What special challenges does this pose for Sky? And to what extent are you currently modernizing and adapting access to soccer?
Radelsberger: We see ourselves as a 360-degree sports platform. The basis is formed by our premium sports rights, which are now broadcast on a total of eight Sky Sport Austria channels and are available either via satellite, cable or IP in a pay model. In addition, sport, and above all King Football, takes place on the skysportaustria.at platform with more than 500,000 unique views as well as our Sky Sport Austria app and all popular social media channels. And our colleagues do this extremely well.

In addition to the live matches, all kinds of analysis, home stories, background reports and portraits are of course important. What do you focus on in particular?
König : Analysis and background reports are extremely important program items for us. Our experts provide in-depth analyses, which form a central part of our pre- and post-reporting. Background stories and portraits are also essential, as they allow us to get close to the action and bring the players closer to the viewer.

Will the way soccer is consumed - including by you - change in the medium term and if so, what can we expect and where do you need to develop further?
Radelsberger: In our view, sport and soccer will remain live and linear. Highlights, clips and news will round off the offering. In technical terms, reception will continue to develop in the direction of IP (internet protocol) and OTT (streaming content via the internet). However, we are already very well positioned with Sky X and, as already announced, we will also take Internet-based television to a new level in the future with the "Sky Stream" and "WOW" products.

What are Sky's subscription figures for sport in general and what are your goals in this regard?
Radelsberger: As part of the Comcast Group, we do not communicate subscription figures. What I can say is that we have never had so many customers, both in the sports and fiction sectors. We are set for further growth and are very confident that we can achieve this with the current soccer line-up.

Sky Austria's Head of Sport Uwe König is optimistic about the new soccer season.

(Bild: Karo Pernegger / Kollektiv Fischka)

In 2025, you will be launching a new umbrella project with "Sky Stream" - what will it look like, how is development progressing and what can we look forward to?
Radelsberger : Sky Stream, the best TV product currently available on the international market, will be coming to Austria in 2025. "Sky Stream" is purely IP-based, meaning it runs via the internet. It requires no cable or satellite connection, just a small IP box, so there is no longer any technical barrier. Our promise is that television will be simpler, clearer and more intuitive than ever before.

Many people find it annoying that they have to subscribe to countless different providers for their favorite series or sports. Are there opportunities for a merger in this respect or is this more wishful thinking?
Radelsberger: We have dedicated ourselves to precisely this topic. We call it content aggregation. Our aim is to bundle all relevant content providers on the Sky platform and make it as easy as possible for viewers to watch their favorite content. For example, we bundle Netflix and Paramount+ with Sky programs or have all the important apps from Disney+, Amazon Prime to DAZN on our platform. With "Sky Stream", the user experience will be even more intuitive, but yes, Sky has a solution for the content jungle.