Menu
Media

Serie A Rights Award May Trigger Mergers, Acquisitions In Europe's Pay-TV Market

The award of broadcast rights for Serie A to Sky Italia and Mediaset "is clarifying valuations for the two rivals and may trigger merger activity in Europe's pay-TV market," according to Masoni, Pollina, Holton & Davies of REUTERS. Sky Italia -- a unit of 21st Century Fox -- and Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset "will both have rights to air matches featuring the eight leading teams in Italy's top division over the next three seasons." Talks are under way to combine Sky Italia in a €10B ($13.6B) deal "with media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's other European TV interests, BSkyB and Sky Deutschland." While the football rights auction "does not have a direct bearing on those discussions, it could pave the way for a deal by helping to pin down the valuation of the Italian arm." Sky Italia and Mediaset "already had rights" to Serie A matches. Under the new deal Mediaset "will broadcast fewer games than currently" and pay €100M ($136M) more. Sky Italia "will pay roughly what is it paying at the moment but have exclusive rights to a larger number of matches." The Italian football league "had considered repeating the auction in view of the legal complaints." But "that was viewed as too risky" for cash strapped clubs facing financial problems "and the grim state of the game" (REUTERS, 6/27). SOCCEREX reported both Sky Italia and Mediaset broadcast the league, but the new deal "will have altered terms." Mediaset "will show fewer games but will pay an increased" €373M ($509M), while Sky Italia will pay €572M ($780M) -- "the same amount it pays under its current agreement -- for more matches exclusively." The €945M ($1.3B) generated from the Serie A rights for the next three-year cycle "is a record for the league" and represents a €114M ($155M) increase on its previous domestic deal (SOCCEREX, 6/27).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2014/06/30/Media/Serie-A-rights.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2014/06/30/Media/Serie-A-rights.aspx

CLOSE