Agcom, Italy’s communications regulator, has launched a procedure that intends to define the rules for the sale of the next set of domestic rights to Serie A, the top division of Italian football.
Agcom said it will commence analysis of the guidelines issued by Lega Serie A on November 30 with a view to ending its investigation on January 29.
Agcom’s probe will involve all stakeholders in the Serie A rights process, which is set to determine the broadcast make-up of the league for the three seasons spanning 2018-19 to 2020-21.
The investigation comes with the four parties involved in the probe by Italy’s antitrust authority, l’Autorità Garante del Mercato e della Concorrenza, into the sale of the current batch of Serie A rights, which led to €66m ($70.8m) in fines being handed down in April, in the midst of 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 in June. The case involves the 2014 sale of rights to Serie A. 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 2015 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.
A tender process for the next set of Serie A rights is not expected before April or May next year.