Sky Italia

Italian public-service broadcaster Rai has bounced back from losing out on rights to this summer’s Fifa World Cup by agreeing three important football deals.

Pay-television operator Sky Italia believes its acquisition of exclusive rights to motor racing’s Formula One world championship can expand its subscriber base, which has been stuck at 4.7m to 4.8m for more than five years.

Lega Serie A, the organising body of the top division of Italian club football, is set to enter into private negotiations over its media rights with Spanish agency Mediapro after talks with broadcasters failed to result in an agreement satisfying its goals for its next domestic contract.

Italian state broadcaster Rai has acquired rights to a host of top football content, including the return of the Uefa Champions League to its screens for the first time in six years, while pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia has secured rights to the Euro 2020 national team tournament.

Pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia will hold exclusive rights to the Formula One motor-racing championship for the first time after sealing a three-season extension to its contract.

Italy’s Lega Serie A is hoping to earn €1.05bn ($1.26bn) per season for its domestic live rights in this month’s tender process. To hit that figure, or even come close to it, the league will need to do something it has failed to do in previous auctions: secure an offer which meets its valuation of its OTT rights.

Pay-television platform Sky Italia is thought to have agreed to pay just over €300m ($336m) per season for exclusive rights to the Uefa Champions League and Europa League from 2018-19 to 2020-21.

Lega Serie A’s invitation to tender for its media rights could allow Sky Italia to secure a monopoly of Serie A rights in the next cycle, dealing a potentially fatal blow to its main rival Mediaset Premium. Bids are due tomorrow, June 10.

The vindication last month by a Roman court of the way Lega Serie A sold its media rights for the current cycle was absolute, but not definitive.

Mike Kiernan reviews television audiences across the big five markets for the recently concluded Formula One World Championship

Will Partington, research analyst for SportBusiness Intelligence, examines television audiences for motorcycling’s MotoGP World Championship in selected European markets.

Lega Serie A and Uefa are in a race to be first to sell their rights in Italy for the period 2018-19 to 2020-21.

Sky Italia has strengthened its grip on the NBA in Italy by becoming the league’s sole media partner in its new two-season deal, and has done so without paying an increased rights fee.

A group of Italian MPs from the coalition government has submitted an amendment to the Melandri Law which would require one live Serie A match per week to be shown on free-to-air television.

Sky Italia’s deal for International Basketball Federation (Fiba) national team rights this month is part of a broader plan to help revive the fortunes of the sport in Italy.

Italian pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia has sealed an exclusive rights deal for national team events operated by Fiba, basketball’s global governing body.