Italy

French media company Vivendi has said it is considering legal action after Italian communications authority AGCOM ordered it to cut its stake in either Italian broadcaster Mediaset or telecommunications firm Telecom Italia within a year.

Italian Serie A football club Juventus has launched an on-demand video platform for its international fan base.

A collective of major broadcasters and Europe’s leading football organisations have joined forces to call on the G7 group of industrial nations to take action to tackle internet piracy.

Clubs from Italy’s Serie A, the top division of domestic football, have unanimously approved a new set of guidelines for the centralised selling of the next package of rights to the league and other competitions.

Italy’s top football league, Lega Serie A, is considering selling its international rights before its domestic rights in the next cycle due to uncertainty about the future of pay-television platform Mediaset Premium.

French media group Vivendi and Italian broadcaster Mediaset launched lawsuits against each other for defamation yesterday (Tuesday) in the opening day of a court case in Milan, according to the Reuters news agency.

French media group Vivendi has fired another shot in its ongoing battle with Mediaset, accusing the Italian broadcaster of providing “misleading” information during talks over a partnership last year.

European pay-television broadcaster Sky is in advanced talks with Mediaset to acquire the Italian media group’s Premium pay-television service, according to a report in Il Sole 24 Ore.

Italian public-service broadcaster Rai and sports broadcaster Eurosport have renewed their deals for the Giro d’Italia, but the shorter domestic contract length and dramatic fee increase in both deals illustrates a more aggressive approach from commercial rights-holder RCS Sport.

Italy’s antitrust authority, the AGCM, has rejected the guidelines outlined by Lega Serie A for the centralised selling of the next package of rights to the top division of domestic football and other competitions, stating they are too “vague” in their definitions of the process.

Telco BT has said the accounting scandal concerning its Italian division will have no impact on its British pay-television broadcaster BT Sport.

The vindication last month by a Roman court of the way Lega Serie A sold its media rights for the current cycle was absolute, but not definitive.

Mediaset is set to make its Premium pay-television service and content available to other operators and could scale back its coverage of football if the rights become too costly, the Italian media group told investors yesterday (Wednesday).

Italian state broadcaster Rai is set to sign a two-year extension to its rights deal for ‘Grand Tour’ cycling event the Giro d’Italia, according to multiple reports.

German media group ProSiebenSat.1 has joined forces with French and Italian counterparts TF1 and Mediaset to forge a partnership in the online video sector.

Pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports has agreed a two-season deal for exclusive rights in Italy to the World Rally Championship motorsport series.