German TV viewers can watch rest of Tour de France on commercial TV

[BGonaSTICK]

German commercial broadcaster Sat.1 has acquired rights for the remainder of this year’s Tour de France, after two German public broadcasters, ARD and ZDF , dropped their coverage in response to the news that a German rider, Patrik Sinkewitz, had failed a June drugs test.

“I’m very happy that we can show one of the world’s biggest sports events at such short notice - everyone connected to cycling deserves good coverage,” Sat.1 boss Matthias Alberti said.

ARD and ZDF dropped the coverage and ZDF is reported to have said it may seek compensation for lost income that resulted it stopped broadcasting the Tour. “We bought the rights to a clean sports event,” ZDF managing editor Nikolas Bender told the Berliner Zeitung. “We will seek out talks with the Tour organizer Amaury Sports Organisation.”

Source: SportBusiness