Sky Italia appeals DAZN winning Serie A rights
April 23, 2021
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Sky Italia has lodged an appeal with the Milan Court against the awarding of the 2021-2024 Serie A TV rights to DAZN.
In its appeal, the Italian pay-TV broadcaster alleges the violation of the so-called ‘Melandri Law’ that prohibits a single operator from acquiring all the rights to the Italian football league matches.
Last month, Italy’s Lega Calcio awarded the TV rights to DAZN for exclusive broadcasts of seven Serie A matches weekly on all platforms (with TIM Italia), plus three more matches on a non-exclusive basis (on IPTV), for about €840 million per season.
The Court hearing has been set for May 5th.
In the meantime, the Lega Calcio is meeting on April 23rd to assign the “package 2” TV rights package, for non-exclusive rights to 3 matches on all platforms. Previously, they rejected Sky Italia’s offer of €87.5 million (on average) per season.