Lega Serie A, the top Italian football league, will know tomorrow whether it will have a digital-terrestrial pay-television broadcast partner for the live matches of Serie A’s smaller teams for the next three seasons, from 2012-13 to 2014-15. The deadline for bids for live digital-terrestrial pay-television rights is Friday March 16 at 11am local time.
Two small digital-terrestrial media operators, Pangea and Centro Europa 7, have been in private negotiations with the league for the last month about the rights to eight small and medium-sized Serie A teams. They are the only bidders. Pay-television operator Mediaset Premium has the digital-terrestrial rights to the top 12 teams.
If the league does not receive a satisfactory offer for the rights it may launch its own television service with the home matches of the eight teams on Italy’s digital-terrestrial platforms. The league tried to auction the rights last September with a reserve price of €72 million ($94 million) per season but received no bids.
The league is also currently seeking offers for its highlights on free-to-air television, and satellite and digital-terrestrial pay-television and radio rights.