Pier Silvio Berlusconi, the vice-president of Mediaset, has said that the Italian commercial and pay-television broadcaster could be open to an exchange of Uefa Champions League and Europa League media rights with pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia.
Sky is the exclusive pay-television rights-holder in Italy for the Champions League for three years, from 2012-13 to 2014-15. Mediaset has free-to-air rights for the Champions League and exclusive pay-television rights for the Europa League in the same period.
“I think that Sky might be interested in an exchange,” Berlusconi said. “Our offering is very competitive. We can offer all European matches of five or six Italian teams [in the 2012-13 season].”
Three of the biggest clubs in Italy’s top division, Serie A – Internazionale, Lazio and Napoli – will definitely participate in the Europa League next season. They could be joined by Udinese, which will enter the competition if it fails to progress through the qualifying rounds for the Champions League. Juventus and AC Milan are the only two Serie A clubs guaranteed to take part in the Champions League in the coming season.
Sky and Mediaset shared pay-television rights for the Champions League from 2009-10 to 2011-12.
In the next cycle, Mediaset has exclusive free-to-air rights for a Wednesday Champions League match each match week, plus highlights of all Tuesday and Wednesday matches.