European Football Championship: Who is broadcasting which games? RTL, Magenta, ARD and ZDF with an overview of the match schedule

On RTL, MagentaTV, ARD and ZDF
At a glance: Which channel shows which European Championship games?

10.06.2024, 07:39

The European Football Championship is also a major TV event. Almost all 51 games can be seen twice, with a total of four broadcasters – RTL, MagentaTV, ARD and ZDF – involved. An overview of providers, commentators, presenters and experts – and where each game can be seen.

The European Football Championship is also a major TV event. Almost all 51 games can be seen twice, with a total of four broadcasters involved. An overview of TV providers, commentators, presenters and experts.

Who broadcasts what?

Anyone who wants to watch all 51 matches of the European Championship must MagentaTV Telekom’s pay-TV offer. According to Telekom, the cheapest version costs ten euros and can be booked through the app store. But: 46 of the 51 games will also be shown on free TV by ARD, ZDF and RTL. Only five matches, including a round of 16 match, will be shown exclusively on Magenta. The first will be on matchday one, when Germany’s group opponents Hungary and Switzerland meet.

In addition, RTL is working closely with Magenta during the European Championship and will broadcast twelve games live on free TV, including a round of 16 and a quarter-final.

ARD and ZDF each hold the TV rights to 17 games. These include all of the German national team’s games, including the opening game on June 14 in Munich. ZDF will broadcast the DFB team’s match against Scotland, while ARD is looking forward to the final one month later in Berlin.

Why are there so many channels?

In 2019, Telekom unexpectedly secured the complete media rights for the European Championship in Germany from the European Football Union UEFA, beating out ARD and ZDF, among others. A year and a half later, the group and the public broadcasters agreed on a complicated deal. In a comprehensive contract, Telekom shared a large part of the rights for the 2024 European Championship with ARD/ZDF and in return received broadcasting licenses for all matches at the 2020 European Championship and all matches at the 2022 World Cup.

Where are the highlights?

All highlights from the 51 matches of the tournament are Available on RTL+ 15 minutes after the final whistle and a little later here on ntv.de. The media libraries of the public broadcasters also have the highlights of the European Championship games.

Who moderates?

Johannes B. Kerner and Laura Wontorra will be the main presenters on Magenta and RTL. Katrin Müller-Hohenstein and Jochen Breyer will take turns hosting the European Championship broadcasts on ZDF, and ARD will rely on Esther Sedlaczek and Alexander Bommes.

Who are the experts?

RTL and Magenta share a studio and a broadcast team. For example, record national player Lothar Matthäus, in addition to his role as an expert at RTL, will appear four times as a co-commentator on the Telekom channel in the knockout phase. Tabea Kemme and a block of former Bayern players Michael Ballack, Tim Borowski and Owen Hargreaves will also be involved. Reiner Calmund, Shkodran Mustafi and Steffen Freund will also be there. Fabian Reese from Hertha BSC will be part of the “Reaction Show”, which is aimed primarily at “GenZ”. Comedian Felix Lobrecht will also have his own show.

RTL broadcasts the show “The RTL EM Studio – All Games, Goals, Emotions” every day at prime time at 8:15 p.m. The show, with “funny clips,” is produced by Stefan Raab’s new production company “Raab Entertainment.”

Almuth Schult, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Hitzlsperger and Thomas Broich provide the expertise at ARD. As usual, ZDF relies on Gladbach pros Christoph Kramer and Per Mertesacker as well as former Bundesliga referee Manuel Gräfe. A new face on ZDF is former national goalkeeper René Adler, who appears in the “Morgenmagazin” and “Mittagsmagazin”.

Who is commenting?

The first and second channels are also planning to use experienced journalists who have already worked at major events. Christina Graf, Tom Bartels and Gerd Gottlob will commentate on the 17 games for ARD. Claudia Neumann, Oliver Schmidt and Martin Schneider will comment on ZDF. Wolff Fuss and Marco Hagemann will be among the commentators for the joint broadcasts by RTL and Telekom.

What’s new?

The broadcasters also provide information in almost real time to those who are unable to watch the games live. Telekom, for example, shows all goals on over 5,500 digital screens from Ströer. The screens are located at train stations, shopping centers, and subway and S-Bahn platforms in almost all major German cities. The goal clips are also shown in all Telekom shops. The 20-second clips are put together using artificial intelligence. ARD also wants to post so-called near-live clips on social media.

The game analyses from the established Sportschau Club, however, will be dropped. Instead of the format, ARD will host the evening with the new EM pub quiz. At the same time, the Magenta show “Pille-Palle” with actor Fahri Yardim and former national player Jonas Hector will be looking forward to unusual occurrences from the match day.