By Matt Scott
October 9 – Serie A clubs are considering a proposal to sell their TV rights from the 2015-6 to 2020-1 seasons for an up-front €5.49bn (£4.63bn).
According to a report in Italy’s Il Sole 24 Ore, the sports-and-media agency Infront has tabled a bid underwriting the league’s income from televised matches for six seasons. It would guarantee €900 million (£758.5 million) to €930 million (£783.8 mission) a year for the 20-club league.
After years of decline in media revenues, which were blamed for Italy’s slide from being the dominant European league in the early 1990s, stiff competition between Italy’s existing pay-TV broadcasters, Sky Italia and Mediaset, has revived the market.
Indeed, their substantial contribution to overall UEFA Champions League broadcast-rights values underpinned the €65.3 million Juventus earned from last season’s Champions League tournament. This was significantly more than the eventual winners, Bayern Munich, who took €55 million.
Now with the Infront offer, Serie A clubs stand to extract still more value from their TV rights. The long-term nature of the Infront proposal would also bring added certainty of income, assisting clubs in their business planning when considering stadium and player investments.
Although the primary distribution method has yet to be decided, it would seem likeliest that Sky Italia and Mediaset would pay Infront to take the rights. However, Infront’s proposal also outlines an alternative that would seem designed to put negotiating pressure on Sky Italia and Mediaset.
It has proposed the launch of a proprietary and dedicated Serie A channel that would then broadcast the rights itself. Italy’s TV-listing laws demand certain football fixtures deemed of national importance be broadcast free to air, which Infront’s plans say would be accommodated.
Infront commissioned a study from GfK Eurisko, an Italian market-research agency. It indicated an independent Serie A channel would be a devastating development for the premium-TV services that currently broadcast Italian top-flight football. According to the Eurisko figures cited by Il Sole 24 Ore, Mediaset Premium would lose 1.4 million households, with Sky Italia losing 2.3 million.
Although the survey suggested 1.9 million families who do not currently have pay-TV services would subscribe to the new channel, the €5.49 billion outlay would constitute a big risk for what would effectively be a start-up. Marco Bogarelli, the head of Infront Italy, has sought to offset the risk by insisting the duration of the mandate should be flexible.
Infront is the existing media-rights broker for Serie A but its relationship with the league has not always been smooth. In August it was reported that seven Italian top-flight clubs including Internationale, Roma and Juventus, wrote a letter to the league president, Maurizio Beretta, and other member clubs to complain about Infront’s role as middleman. It drew €35 million (£29.5 million) in commissions from the sale of rights in the 2012-3 to 2015-6 cycle.
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