Italy’s Antitrust Authority has fined sports OTT broadcaster DAZN €500,000 for misleading publicity and information on its 2018/2019 Italian football package.

Following an investigation launched last August, the Antitrust Authority found the streaming service guilty of unfair business practices, by violating article 21 of the Consumer Code.

Specifically, in its promotional activity, DAZN used advertising messages that emphasised the possibility of using the service ‘when you want, where you want’, without making any reference to the technical limitations that could instead make it complicated or even prevent it, as demonstrated by the difficulties encountered by consumers at the beginning of the football season.

Also, DAZN used a “deceptive” way of adding subscribers, by boasting that consumers registering on the site would enjoy a free trial month, with the specification that the registration would not imply the signing of a subscription contract when in fact the opposite was true.

DAZN was awarded the TV rights for one third of the Serie A matches, with Sky Italia covering the rest.

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