EBU Director, Stefan Kürten, Gives an Insight into the Broadcasting Union's Future Strategy

Within the scope of a keynote speech and subsequent 1:1 chat entitled “Outdated or a model for the future? The role of the EBU in a time of fragmented markets”, the Director of Sports & Business Department of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) shall provide an insight into development of the broadcasting union over the past few years and outline its potential in the future.

The EBU has existed for over 60 years now and has therefore accompanied the developments in sports rights trading in Europe from the offset, helping to set the course over the years. Among the partners count (or counted) all renowned sports associated, be that the International Olympic Committee (IOC), major football associations such as FIFA and UEFA, and traditionally also the FIS and IBU winter sports associations.

The heavyweights of the EBU were always the associated national broadcasters (such as the ARD and ZDF here in Germany), who made it possible for the sports associations to generate widespread coverage and revenue in one fell swoop through the sale of media packages.

Times have changed however. In an attempt to maximise media revenue in an increasingly fragmented market, major associations such as the IOC are meanwhile switching to individual marketing of their rights in the TV core markets. Then again, the EBU can still cause a stir with renowned rights, as was recently the case with acquisition of the media rights for the Tour de France from 2012 to 2015 for around 70 different media agencies in Europe.

So the question is: Is the EBU “outdated or a model for the future” and which strategy does director Stefan Kürten intend to implement to lead the EBU into the future?