Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset signed a three-year contract from 2013 to broadcast the Superbike World Championship motorcycling series. The deal comes after the broadcaster earlier this week lost its rights to the MotoGP series to pay-television broadcaster Sky.
Mediaset signed the agreement with series owners the Infront Sports & Media agency. It has an option to extend the deal for a further three years. It will take over the rights from commercial broadcaster La7, the current Superbike rights-holder in Italy.
Mediaset’s coverage will be broadcast on free-to-air channel Italia 1.
Giorgio Giovetti, head of sports rights purchasing for Mediaset, said: “We have decided to switch our target to a very competitive and spectacular championship, with bikes that enhance the battles between great riders and render the outcome of each round uncertain right until the very end. Superbike is a sporting contest whose value will be enhanced considerably thanks to the visibility guaranteed by Italia 1 and by the technical and journalistic commentary of Mediaset’s sports editorial team.”
Stephan Herth, executive director of summer sports at Infront, said: “The agreement with Mediaset, as a major network in Italy, reflects the significant growth in relevance and strength that the Superbike World Championship has achieved in recent years. In Italy, it is among the most popular sports competitions and attracts high public interest – even more as seven out of the 24 riders fly the Italian flag.”
This rights deal will be covered in depth in tomorrow’s TV Sports Markets newsletter.