BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Ice field hockey fans will be able to watch the German national team's games at the World Championships in the Czech Republic at no extra cost. ProSieben will show all games of the runners-up in the world championship, as the free TV station announced on Thursday. That is at least seven preliminary round matches. The World Cup begins for the German team on May 10 against Slovakia. Further opponents are the USA, Sweden, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Poland and France.

The ProSiebenSat.1 Group has secured the World Cup rights with a sub-license agreement from DOSB New Media. All matches will be shown by the fee-based online provider Sportdeutschland.TV, which is part of DOSB New Media. Access to all 64 matches currently costs EUR 19.90 and will cost EUR 24.90 from April 14.

According to the company, the ProSiebenSat.1 package includes 30 matches, including two quarter-finals, both semi-finals, the match for third place and the final. There will also be summaries of all games on TV and on the internet platform "ran.de". Most recently, the Ice Hockey World Cup was shown on Sport1 and the online channel MagentaSport./mrs/DP/nas