World Cup final game to receive nationwide broadcast in Germany / News - Basketnews.com

Even though German viewers weren't able to watch the overwhelming majority of World Cup action for free, that's expected to change this Sunday. The president of the German Basketball Association slammed broadcasters for their treatment of basketball.

Credit: AFP-Scanpix Credit AFP-Scanpix

Serbia and Germany will fight for the gold medal at the 2023 FIBA World Cup in Manila on Sunday (14:40 CEST).

And while Serbia pulled off big results by eliminating Lithuania and Canada, Germany impressed the most in the semi-finals when they managed to defeat Team USA 113-111.

However, what can arguably be called the biggest success in the history of German basketball wasn't enjoyed live by German viewers, who weren't able to watch the tournament without paying a subscription to Magenta Sport -- save for the games played by the German NT which were available free of charge.

As a result, most of Germany has missed out on almost 95% of World Cup game action. That's why the president of the German Basketball Association, Ingo Weiss, raised his voice and vowed to solve this problem.

"First of all, I have to say that television broadcasts the games brilliantly. However, it angers me that no TV station would buy the rights and broadcast the matches. Maybe ARD and ZDF are too conservative to broadcast exciting sports like basketball," Weiss argued in a statement to Bild.

"And don't come to me with arguments about viewership - public services have a task. I hope something will change," Weiss said before the World Cup final.

In the meantime, ZDF, Germany's national broadcaster, bought the rights to the World Cup final game.

"All fans in Germany will be able to watch the final live on television. The broadcast was made possible by the cooperation of the owners of the rights to broadcast the World Basketball Championship," he explained to Bild.

Weiss, 59, had raised the issue last year, following Germany's win over Lithuania in the EuroBasket group stage.

"I find it quite ignorant and disappointing that the public broadcasters are not fulfilling their mandate," he said at the time.

ARD and ZDF only presented excerpts from the games, a decision that was most likely based on the poor ratings recorded during the 2015 EuroBasket, when Berlin hosted part of the group stage.

ZDF sports section director Yorck Polus said German viewers will be able to watch the game thanks to the willingness displayed by the rights owner (Magenta Sport).

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