Rai International, the international channel of Italian state broadcaster Rai, will be able to continue with its Sunday-afternoon coverage of the country’s top football league, Serie A, after reaching an agreement with the MP & Silva agency, the league’s international rights distributor.
The agreement is for three years, from 2012-13 to 2014-15. It will enable Rai International to continue showing its La Giostra del Gol goals round-up programme.
The deal was agreed after a stand-off lasting months. The Gazzetta dello Sport reported that MP & Silva first approached Rai in March this year, looking to renew at about the same price as in the last two-year deal. The state broadcaster, however, demanded a 30-per-cent discount. The deal is reported to be worth “a few million” euros.
MP & Silva joint chief executive Riccardo Silva said that the agency had made a “small sacrifice” to find an agreement with Rai. He pointed out that the league’s guidelines for the distribution of the rights says that the distribution must take into account the needs of Italian communities abroad.
Rai International has 200,000 subscribers in Central and Latin America, 100,000 in the US, 80,000 in Canada and 50,000 in Australia.