If no broadcaster meets the league’s reserve price of €5 million ($7.3 million) the league will enter into private negotiations with broadcasters.
The rights for the season just ended, 2010-11, were originally acquired by pay-television service Dahlia. When the platform went bankrupt in February, the rights to the final part of the season were taken over by Mediaset. The live satellite rights for next season are held by pay-television platform Sky Italia.
Serie B matches are played on Friday evening, Saturday afternoon and Monday evening. The matches do not drive huge audiences for pay-television operators but the wide geographical spread of teams allows operators to use football to market their wider services throughout the country.