Serie A signs big international TV rights deal
Published:Friday | October 13, 2017 | 12:00 AM
MILAN, Italy (AP):
Italy's top football league has made a switch and assigned its international TV rights predominantly to IMG for €371 million ($437 million) per season nearly double the value of the previous deal.
The agreement covers the next three Serie A seasons through 2020-21.
The previous deal was for €190 million ($224 million) per season with MP and Silva.
The new figure places Serie A third in Europe for international rights after the English Premier League (1.3 billion euros) and the Spanish league (€636 million); and ahead of the German Bundesliga (€240 million ).
Hefty package
IMG will pay €352 million for global rights and a betting package, Rai International will provide €4 million for Italian language rights abroad, and the remaining funds will be covered by signal providers and league promotions.
"The awareness of the Italian league's potential is growing," said Luigi De Siervo, the CEO of Serie A advisor Infront. "The clubs have chosen a partner that convinced everyone, not just for the economic terms, but above all, for the development plan."
While the 18 clubs present for the vote selected IMG unanimously, Aurelio De Laurentiis left the room angrily beforehand, with the president of Serie A leader Napoli calling the offers "mortifying."
Serie A still makes most of its money from domestic TV rights deals with Sky and Mediaset.