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.
Lega Serie A, the governing body of the top division of Italian football, announced the launch of the tender at the end of last month, with a deadline of June 10 for bids to be submitted.
However, Mediaset told the AGCM that the sales process, which is being handled by the Lega’s rights adviser, the Infront Sports & Media agency, “favours” pay-television broadcaster Sky and represents a “monopoly risk.”
Mediaset complained that, with a “no single buyer” rule in place, Package B was not attractive enough, while Package D features 324 matches – significantly more games than the other packages.
Mediaset, which called for the process to be suspended, also criticised the reduced number of packages and the minimum rights fees.