The Mediapro agency has confirmed it has appealed a court ruling which cancels its tender for rights to Serie A, the top division of Italian football, stating that the Sky Italia-led action stems from “fear” from the pay-television broadcaster of losing its dominant position in the market.
On Wednesday, Sky said it was ready to make an “important offer” to resolve the dispute surrounding Mediapro’s rights for Serie A after a judge ruled that the agency’s tender must be scrapped.
Sitting in the Court of Milan, Judge Claudio Marangoni ruled that Mediapro and Lega Serie A must re-evaluate a tender launched last month, following a challenge lodged by Sky.
Sky initially secured the suspension of the tender process following a ruling on April 16. Marangoni stated that the tender must be cancelled as it was not properly formulated and breached antitrust rules.
According to the judge, by offering packages with “information and advertising content”, Mediapro assumed “a form of editorial responsibility” that “seems to place it outside the sphere of activity of the independent intermediary”.
Mediapro said in a statement issued yesterday (Thursday): “Mediapro considers that its marketing proposal is in accordance with the provisions of its contract with La Lega and the provisions of Italy’s Melandri Law and Linee Guida.
“After analysing the ruling, the Mediapro Group considers that its offer to Italian operators did not include editorial content and believes that, under current Italian regulatory framework, it can market advertising.
“Mediapro regrets that Sky’s fear of losing its controlling position in the rights market is causing concern among the professional football sector in Italy. The situation is not of Mediapro’s making.”
Mediapro last month put on the market seven packages of rights to Serie A, with bidders having until April 21 to submit offers. The non-exclusive rights were to cover three seasons, from 2018-19 to 2020-21.
The packages on offer included all 380 matches for pay-television; two packages each for digital-terrestrial television and IPTV; one covering the matches of the top eight clubs; one covering the matches of the other clubs; and two packages for online platforms – one of which included every game, while the other included the matches of the top eight clubs.
In March, Italy’s antitrust authority, the AGCM, approved Mediapro’s acquisition of the rights from Lega Serie A. The Infront agency managed the rights-sales process on behalf of the Lega.
Lega Serie A, the organising body of the top division of Italian club football, in February accepted an offer for its domestic broadcast rights from Mediapro. The Lega said the Spanish agency had made an offer worth €1,050,001,000 ($1.31bn) per season, exceeding the minimum revenue target of €1.05bn that had been set.
Sky is currently Serie A’s main rights partner, paying €585m per season for rights to the matches of all 20 teams, and has continually stated its opposition to the Mediapro deal.