MP & Silva retains Serie A’s international rights

The MP & Silva agency has extended its hold on the international rights to Serie A, the top division of Italian football, for a further three seasons.

The agreement struck with Lega Serie A, the governing body of the division, comprises the seasons from 2015-16 to 2017-18.

MP & Silva has been managing and distributing Serie A’s international rights since 2004 and has seen off competition for the new contract from rival agencies IMG and B4 Capital, which had also tabled bids for the rights.

Financial terms of the new contract were not disclosed, but the Digital-Sat.it website said MP & Silva had offered €172m ($216.7m) for the 2015-16 season, rising to €185m and €200m in the second and third seasons, respectively. The total value of €557m represents an increase of almost 60 per cent over that raised in the previous auction.

The agreement includes the audiovisual rights to distribute Serie A globally in all countries outside Italy, including the rights to live broadcast all Serie A matches, the right to broadcast the Serie A magazine programme and Serie A highlights.

MP & Silva has also secured the right to produce and broadcast programmes relating to the pre-match, half-time or post-match slots, including game highlights and interviews.

Riccardo Silva, founding partner of MP & Silva, said: “We know we have an important task – to disseminate in the best and most suitable way to an international audience one of the most typical products of Italian culture.

“We are confident in our ability to both commercialise and distribute Serie A in 200 countries around the world, as well as in the ability of Italian football to be able to recover competitiveness against other leagues.”