Italy’s second-tier football league, Lega Serie B, is on course to earn €15 million ($18.3 million) per season from its media rights and sponsorship deals for the next three seasons, from 2012-13 to 2014-15.
This week the league concluded broadcast deals with pay-television platforms Sky Italia and Mediaset Premium worth a total of €7.5 million per season. Sky is paying €5 million per year, and Mediaset €2.5 million, according to the Gazzetta dello Sport.
Sky acquired the satellite rights to all matches, while Mediaset acquired the digital-terrestrial rights to the top two matches each week, played on Friday evening and Monday evening.
The league is expected to show the matches not shown by Mediaset on a league channel that would be distributed to digital-terrestrial platforms. It is reported to be working closely with the top league, Serie A, on the project. The channel would provide magazine content free of charge during the week and live matches on a paid-for basis on Saturday afternoons.
The league still has secondary domestic rights and international rights to sell.
The league also concluded a ball sponsorship deal with sports equipment manufacturer Puma and is close to agreeing a deal to replace betting company Bwin as main sponsor. The two deals are expected to earn the league at least a further €3.5 million per season, taking total income to €11 million. The income from the unsold secondary media rights would take the league’s income to about €15 million per season.