Brian Sullivan, Sky Deutschland’s CEO, has dismissed suggestions that the pay-TV operator may have over-paid in successfully securing German Bundesliga football rights, revealing that the €468 million was in line with its business plan. He also played down the importance of acquiring such rights, arguing that Sky Deutschland’s turnaround was not the result of a “silver bullet”, but rather about “doing things the customer expects you to do right, right. The bid was the end of a process we started over two years ago.”

“We’re not a technology company,” he told delegates at the ANGA Cable TV Summit. “We are increasingly interested in the experience our customers are getting,” he said, also revealing that a significant proportion of subscriber additions came via recommendations from existing customers. Any increase in subscription fees would not relate specifically to the extended Bundesliga deal, he claimed.

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