Italian Serie A football clubs have voted to approve the award of the next three-year cycle of media rights, from 2015-16 to 2017-18, with pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia and Mediaset Premium’s parent company RTI securing the main packages.
Sky has acquired Package A, comprising satellite-television rights for home and away games of eight teams, including the top four, for €357m ($486m) per season, according to the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.
RTI has acquired Packages B and D for €280m and €306m, respectively. Package B includes digital-terrestrial rights to the same games as Package A, while package D includes exclusive platform-neutral live rights to the 12 teams not covered by Packages A and B. Packages A and B also include DVBH, IPTV and mobile rights.
The rights were awarded after Sky and Mediaset agreed sublicensing deals with each other for the coverage, ending a dispute between the broadcasters. The deals have left Sky with rights to all 380 matches per season, of which 132 will be exclusive, for a total net outlay of €572m. Mediaset will have the rights to home and away matches of eight teams, including the top four, for a net outlay of €373m.
Packages C and E were not awarded. Bids from Sky and pay-television broadcaster Fox did not reach the reserve price for Package C, which includes ancillary rights such as access to changing rooms, the tunnel and the pitch-side area for interviews, to supplement Packages A and B. There were no bids for Package E, which includes online, mobile and IPTV rights to three matches per week.
The total rights income for Serie A will be €943m per season – €114m more than the current three-year period.
All of the clubs voted in favour of awarding the rights, apart from Fiorentina.