Italian commercial broadcaster La7 has sublicensed non-exclusive, simulcast rights for Italian Lega Basket Serie A matches to digital sports broadcaster Sportitalia, after gaining permission from the league to sublicense on rights for the 2012-13 season.
La7 has the rights for the second-choice match each week from Serie A, the top basketball league in Italy, plus the All-Star game and the Final Eight tournament, which is part of the Coppa Italia knockout competition under a two-season deal agreed in July 2011 covering 2011-12 and 2012-13.
The permission to sublicense was granted by the league this season, and allows La7 to sell non-exclusive simulcast rights to third parties. La7 could yet agree deals with other broadcasters, on top of the Sportitalia deal.
Sportitalia’s deal covers at least three upcoming games, starting with Trenkwalder Reggio Emilia v Scavolini Banche Marche Pesaro this Sunday. The Acea Roma v Montepaschi Siena game on Monday, November 12 and the Vanoli Cremona v EA7 Emporio Armani Milano game on Monday, November 19 will also be shown on Sportitalia 2, which is available on digital-terrestrial platforms and the Sky Italia satellite pay-television platform. The matches will also be shown by La7.
Italian public-service broadcaster Rai is the league’s primary domestic rights-holder and shows the first-choice games.