Italian Watchdog Says Antitrust Law Violated In Football Rights Sale

Investigators at Italy's antitrust authority said that Sky Italia and Mediaset "violated competition laws by divvying up" Serie A rights and excluding new entrants, according to Steve Scherer of REUTERS. The antitrust body, known as the AGCM, began its investigation into a '14 rights auction worth nearly €1B ($1.09B) "per season in May last year, closing it in December." Inspectors have written a report of their findings, but there has been "no ruling on whether rules were broken." But la Repubblica newspaper reported on Sunday, citing the 56-page document detailing the conclusions of the regulator's investigators, that the two companies "agreed to the outcome" of the rights auction, "blocking the entry of new operators." An antitrust source confirmed "the parts of the report cited by the newspaper." Sky Italia was "not immediately available for comment." Mediaset "did not comment" (REUTERS, 1/17).