Emily Bölk and Co. don’t let the lack of coverage on free TV dampen their anticipation of the World Cup – but they are annoyed about it. On Thursday, Germany’s handball players will start their hunt for their first World Cup medal since winning bronze in 2007 with the opening game against Japan. The tournament can only be seen on a pay channel.
“I expect that international matches of every German national team, regardless of whether they are women or men, will be broadcast on free TV,” Bölk told the German Press Agency before the first group duel (6 p.m.) in Herning, Denmark. “It clearly has to do with appreciation.” From Hungary, where the co-captain has been playing for Ferencvaros Budapest for three and a half years, she is “used to something completely different”.
National coach and DHB boss angry
National coach Markus Gaugisch also thinks it’s a shame that the DHB selection’s World Cup appearances can only be seen live on the online channel Sportdeutschland.TV for a fee. Like his protégés, he hopes “that we will get more media presence in the future. It’s worth bringing this to the attention of the general public.”
DHB boss Andreas Michelmann primarily holds the public broadcasters accountable. “I see the diversity of sport at risk due to the very one-sided reporting by ARD and ZDF. With the fixation on football – for both men and women – it is important to think about orienting the reporting on the success of the teams.” said the President of the German Handball Association to the dpa.
He expects ARD and ZDF “to question whether their reporting is still up to date or whether it is not time to present the entire spectrum of sport and that women have a real chance to be shown,” added the 64th -year olds.
“We have no rights,” said ZDF sports director Yorck Polus, who used to comment on many games for his broadcaster. ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky sounds similar: “The live rights to the women’s handball world championship are held by Sportdeutschland.TV.” He announced: “The ARD has acquired post-exploitation rights and will report on this event in the form of highlights and summaries in its broadcasts.”
DHB women want to shine even without a TV stage
The internet broadcaster Sportdeutschland.TV has acquired the exclusive rights and charges 15 euros for all 112 games. “The fact that there is no free TV is not our fault, because we are and were ready to talk at any time,” said managing director Björn Beinhauer to the dpa. “Unfortunately, the German free TV broadcasters are still not very flexible or sufficiently interested in this event, so we never had a concrete offer from a free TV broadcaster for a sublicense.” In addition to ARD and ZDF, there are numerous free TV channels such as RTL and Sat.1.
“Of course we would prefer to be seen on free TV,” said co-captain Alina Grijseels. “We will try to put a certain amount of pressure on the public broadcasters through our performance and successes.”
Even without the big TV stage, the German team wants to shine at the finals in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The start should be made against Japan. But caution is advised. “The Asian style is generally different than in Europe. That means much faster and with more playfulness. The Japanese are smaller, more nimble and therefore better at one-on-one,” warned Bölk. But the DHB women don’t want to let their opening opponents stop them.
