Italian state broadcaster Rai’s offer for the free-to-air highlights rights to Serie A was so low as to be considered “ridiculous” by the league, Lega Serie A, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport. The rights are for three seasons, from 2012-13 to 2014-15.
The broadcaster is said to have offered less than half of the €24.55 million ($32.2 million) per season it pays in the current two-year deal, which expires at the end of the current season. The league had no takers when it auctioned the rights in September. Rai, the only bidder for the rights by last Friday’s deadline, had been expected to bid below its current rights-fee level but the league presidents are said to have been stung by how far the broadcaster dropped its valuation of the rights. Rai was also the only bidder for radio rights.
Rai believes that the reduction in the number of important matches being played on Sunday afternoons – with the key matches being spread across other slots between Saturday evening and Monday evening for the benefit of pay-television companies Sky Italia and Mediaset Premium – has hugely devalued the rights. The stand-off means that programmes such as Rai’s flagship Sunday 6pm programme Novantesimo Minuto and the late-evening Domenica Sportiva are now at risk.
Two companies – Pangea and Centro Europa 7 – bid for the live digital-terrestrial rights to eight small Serie A clubs. The league had originally asked for €72 million per season for the package. There were no bidders for the package of digital-terrestrial pay-television highlights.
A league assembly has been called for Friday to discuss the bids. One option for the highlights rights would be to split them up into a series of separate packages – for different time slots on Sundays – and try to sell them separately. However, unless commercial broadcaster Mediaset can be drawn into the bidding against Rai, this is unlikely to have a big impact on the value of the rights.