By Jonathan Easton

The NFL has announced long-term rights deals in Germany with RTL and DAZN.

From the start of the 2023 season, the free-to-air RTL and streamer DAZN will provide the DACH region with a combined 170 live games per season, up almost 30 per cent from the current deal with ProSieben and DAZN.

Serving as the NFL’s FTA partner, RTL, its commercial channel Nitro and streaming service RTL+ will show 80 games per season, including the annual draft, preseason, regular season, playoffs, the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl.

DAZN will continue to broadcast all primetime Thursday, Sunday and Monday night fixtures, while also adding one early kickoff game and one match from a later time slot. The streamer will also continue its carriage agreement for RedZone, and broadcast its live ENDZN programme.

The final part of the deal sees both broadcasters gain co-exclusive rights for the NFL’s games in Germany – which will double from one to two in 2023.

RTL managing director of television and chief content officer, Hanning Tewes said: “With the acquisition of the NFL rights, we are strengthening our programs sustainably for many years to come – this applies to RTL as well as to Nitro and our fast-growing streaming offering RTL+.

“This investment underscores our ambition as a broadcasting group to remain Germany’s leader in the advertising-relevant target group in the future. Viewers can look forward to highly attractive live sports from the USA.”

Head of DAZN in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Alice Mascia said: “American football and enthusiasm for the NFL have been growing rapidly in German-speaking countries for years, to which DAZN’s strong partnership with the NFL has contributed significantly.

“Innovative formats like ‘ENDZN’, which fans can only experience on DAZN, and the most comprehensive live as well as editorial coverage in German, make the NFL one of the most popular leagues among DAZN subscribers. That’s why I’m delighted that we’ll be able to present it to fans for many years to come via DAZN and the linear channels DAZN1 and DAZN2.”