Serie A Media Rights Set for Summer Auction

According to reports in the press, medic the media rights to Italy’s Serie A soccer league, malady are likely to be put out to tender this summer.

A meeting between the league’s 20 clubs is scheduled on Friday, unhealthy April 15, to discuss the next rights auction. Before going to market, the league must submit guidelines for the rights sale to the country’s antitrust authority and communications authority.

The league is thought to be looking for an increase of at least 10 per cent on its current media rights income according to TV Sports Markets. However, it will have to do so with one fewer player in the country’s pay-television market following the closure in February of digital-terrestrial platform Dahlia.

The league had brought in about Eur960m (US$1.39bn) per season in its current two-year deal, covering the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons, but the final amount earned will be much less. Dahlia had paid only a small proportion of its fee of Eur31.5m ($45.5m) per season.

The league has four years to run on its six-year media rights advisory deal with Infront Sports & Media. It now has to decide whether to do two further two-year deals or to sell the rights this time for a longer period – either three or four years.