Italy

Mediaset vice-president Pier Silvio Berlusconi has said the Italian broadcaster would be interested in a partnership with pay-television rival Sky Italia for the final season of its Uefa Champions League rights deal, adding that a pay-per-view service will be launched for the club football competition as the company assesses its future direction.

Sports and betting-related services company Sportradar has signed up its latest partner for its new over-the-top product by agreeing a multi-year deal with Italian DTT sports broadcaster Sportitalia.

Mediaset president Fedele Confalonieri has confirmed that the media company will participate in the new sales process for domestic rights to Serie A, the top division of Italian football, when it is launched later this year.

Telecommunications group Telecom Italia (TIM) has agreed a first-of-its-kind partnership with media and entertainment company Discovery Communications that will grant it access to content from the Olympic Games.

Pay-television platform Sky Italia is thought to have agreed to pay just over €300m ($336m) per season for exclusive rights to the Uefa Champions League and Europa League from 2018-19 to 2020-21.

The attempt by MP & Silva to terminate a deal with Fifa for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Italy is being challenged by football’s global governing body, just months after the two appeared to have reached a settlement.

Italian broadcaster Mediaset has secured full control of its pay-television unit, Mediaset Premium, after acquiring the stake held by Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica.

Lega Serie B, the governing body of the second tier of Italian football, has approved guidelines for the sale of its next set of broadcast rights, while it has assessed proposals from three bidders to become its new centralised marketing advisor.

Pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia has become the new rights-holder of the Uefa Champions League and Europa League club football competitions in Italy.

Lega Serie A, which operates the top football division in Italy, is set to launch a new rights auction in the coming months after Mediaset refused to participate in the latest tender and the only bidders tabled offers that did not meet the league’s expectations.

Lega Serie A’s invitation to tender for its media rights could allow Sky Italia to secure a monopoly of Serie A rights in the next cycle, dealing a potentially fatal blow to its main rival Mediaset Premium. Bids are due tomorrow, June 10.

Italy’s antitrust authority, the AGCM, has opted to suspend action on a complaint brought forward by Italian broadcaster Mediaset to enable the tender process for the domestic rights to Serie A can proceed as planned, while French media company Vivendi has expressed interest in the tender.

Italian broadcaster Mediaset has filed a complaint to the country’s antitrust authority, the AGCM, over the tender for the domestic rights for the Serie A football competition for three seasons, from 2018-19 to 2020-21.

The Infront Sports & Media agency has revealed details of a host of broadcast deals it has signed for the new Hammer Series cycling event, which commences tomorrow (Friday).

French media group Vivendi has secured European Union antitrust approval for its plan to gain control of Telecom Italia after the European Commission said it has agreed to sell the Italian telecommunications company’s majority stake in broadcasting services group Persidera.

Social video production, editing and sharing platform Tellyo has entered into a partnership with rugby union league the Pro12.