The four parties involved in the investigation by Italy’s antitrust authority, l’Autorità Garante del Mercato e della Concorrenza, into the sale of Serie A rights, which led to €66m ($74.4m) in fines being handed down in April, have filed appeals against the ruling.
The appeals from Mediaset, Sky Italia, Lega Serie A and Infront Sports & Media were entered at the regional administrative court (TAR) of Lazio ahead of Monday’s deadline.
The case involves the 2014 sale of rights to Serie A, the top division of domestic football. The Mediaset Premium pay-television operation of media company Mediaset was fined €51.4m alone in April.
The regulator issued its sanctions having already notified Lega Serie A, the Infront agency, Mediaset and pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia that their behaviour during the auction process for Serie A media rights constituted a breach of European competition law.
The December findings came after a seven-month investigation into the June 2014 sales of the rights for the period 2015-16 to 2017-18. The authority opened the investigation after the Lega ignored the outcome of its own auction, splitting the main live packages between pay-television broadcasters Mediaset and Sky, despite Sky having outbid Mediaset for both.
Mediaset was issued with the largest fine. Sky has been ordered to pay €4m, the Lega has been fined €1.9m and Infront, its media rights adviser, has been handed a fine of €9m.