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Article: Soccer and TV: a heated game. (Germany)
- Article from:
- Video Age International
- Article date:
- April 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 TV Trade Media, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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For Germans, soccer is - next to cars - the most important hobby in the world. Nine of the 10 highest ranking sports events on TV in 1997 were soccer matches. Before Boris Becker and Steffi Graf entered the scene and shifted some attention to tennis, soccer pioneers like Franz Beckenbauer and Uwe Seeler, who built their careers in the '60s and '70s, were national heroes. Millions of little boys playing in the streets and in clubs have made soccer a folk sport.
So the outcry was enormous when Leo Kirch, Germany's powerful media mogul, announced his intention to sell the rights for big sports events to pay-TV. In a survey conducted by the magazine TV Movie, 85 percent ...