Italy’s private broadcaster Mediaset and Telecom Italia Media (TIM) made no offer in the tender for Serie A football rights, leaving Sky as the only major bidder.
Sky Italia and the Perform Group were the only bidders – Sky submitted bids for two of the five available packages, while the Perform Group bid for another two packages of live streaming rights.
Following the two broadcasters’ decision not to take part, the Serie A football league announced that it will be launching a new tender for TV rights to air live matches for the 2018-2021 period. Lega Serie A decided to cancel the tender because “the offers were not representative of the real value of Italian football rights,” according to the League’s president Carlo Tavecchio.
Earlier this month, the Italian broadcaster said the current call for proposals issued by the Italian football league violate the so-called ‘no single buyer’ rule of the Melandri decree, and has filed a complaint to the Authority for Competition and Market.
Mediaset also said that its withdrawal from the tender would not have any impact on the upcoming 2017-2018 season, for which it has already bought the rights to transmit Serie A and UEFA Champions League matches.
