By Elvira Pollina
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s top flight soccer league Serie A is pressing ahead with plans to launch its own media operations with the support of financial investors as a sale process of domestic broadcasting licences struggles to gain traction, club and league officials said.
The creation of a media platform to distribute Serie A matches to other TV outlets as well as the launch of a league-run live video streaming subscription service have been repeatedly floated in recent years.
The initiative is seen as a way of reducing the league’s reliance on broadcasters’ shrinking budgets in the face of tough economic conditions, low growth and higher interest rates.
The launch of a TV streaming service platform to broadcast matches would a first for any major soccer league in Europe.
Bids received so far for various packages of matches for the next multi-year contracts totalled less than 900 million euros ($950 million) annually, according to two sources briefed on the matter, below current deals expiring in June.
Serie A is seeking to get improved offers form current right holders DAZN and Sky Italia, with broadcaster MFE-MediaforEurope also vying for the rights to screen a weekly fixture free to air.
Representatives of the clubs will discuss final proposals received from broadcasters at a meeting on Monday.
The 20 clubs may also decide to use the league’s streaming platform to screen only some of the matches, awarding part of the rights to the established broadcasters.
The league has already received offers from investment firms and private equity funds to partner with it in setting up a media venture as part of a bidding process initiated in June.
TV rights are a key source of revenue for Serie A clubs such as this year’s champions Napoli, Juventus and Milanese clubs AC Milan and Inter.
The current three-year domestic deal is worth around 2.9 billion euros, while domestic rights in the English Premier League fetch almost double that amount for the 2022-2025 cycle.
That means more of the world’s top players are drawn to the lucrative Premier League, a reverse of the situation in the 1980s and 1990s when the Italian league was the pinnacle of European soccer. ($1 = 0.9485 euros)
($1 = 0.8187 pounds)
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; Editing by Keith Weir)
