Sky Italia

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.

The investigation by Italy’s antitrust authority into the sale of Serie A rights, which led to €66m ($75m) in fines being handed down this month, centred on negotiations in a four-day period in June 2014 after bids had been made.

Italy’s antitrust authority, l’Autorità Garante del Mercato e della Concorrenza, has issued fines totalling €66m ($75.3m) in the case surrounding the 2014 sale of rights to Serie A, the top division of domestic football.

Sky, Rupert Murdoch’s European pay-television company, which was created in November 2014 from the merger of previously separate platforms in the UK, Germany and Italy, has unified its sports operations by creating a single European sports division under the control of Andrea Zappia.

Italian media company Mediaset is closing in on a deal to sell its pay-television division, Mediaset Premium, to French media company Vivendi, according to the Reuters news agency.

Sky Italia’s investment in this summer’s two major football tournaments – Euro 2016 and the Copa América Centenario – came as a surprise as the broadcaster had said it has abandoned its strategy of acquiring rights to major events. It does not, however, represent a U-turn – the deals were last-minute, opportunistic acquisitions.

Italy’s antitrust authority has notified Lega Serie A, Infront Sports & Media, Mediaset and Sky Italia that their behaviour during the auction process for Serie A media rights constituted a breach of European competition law.

England’s Premier League has almost doubled its income in recently-agreed deals covering 11 territories across Europe.

Sky renewed its deal for European club rugby and picked up Russian Premier League rights after a four-year hiatus.

Italian pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia has acquired rights for football’s Russian Premier League.

Italy’s top basketball league, Lega Basket Serie A, is satisfied with the outcome of its recent domes-tic rights negotiations, even though total fees remain well below the level of five years ago.