Italy’s competition authority has cut DAZN’s antitrust penalty linked to its Serie A distribution deal with Telecom Italia (TIM), reducing the fine from €7,240,250.84 to €3,673,716.63.
TIM’s sanction has been left unchanged at €760,776.82.
Italian media said the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) recalculated the penalty after a ruling by the Consiglio di Stato (Council of State) upheld the substance of the infringement finding, but required changes to the way DAZN’s fine was calculated.
The court found a defect in AGCM’s investigation and reasoning, published in June 2025, where it had included DAZN’s “direct sales” in full, without verifying what proportion (if any) was actually attributable to the contested parts of the “Deal Memo”. The court indicated those direct sales should be deducted if AGCM could not make a clear estimate of any uplift linked to the challenged provisions.
That finding, combined with the Council of State’s separate conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to attribute the infringement to DAZN Media Services (removing that entity’s responsibility), fed into the recalculation now reflected in January’s bulletin and the revised fine level being reported.
The case has been watched closely because it sits between premium sports rights, telco distribution and bundling, and the ability of rival operators to compete when “must-have” content is tied to a single connectivity player.
AGCM’s 2023 decision focused on clauses in the TIM-DAZN agreement around Serie A rights for 2021–2024. The watchdog said the deal granted exclusivity to TIM and prevented it from partnering with telecoms competitors, allowing TIM to market a bundled offer (connectivity plus TIMVision and DAZN) that rivals could not replicate. AGCM argued this risked distorting competition in connectivity and pay-TV retail markets, and also said some provisions could limit DAZN’s commercial options on other platforms.
The authority also stressed that the impact of the exclusivity provisions was limited in time. It said the contested clauses were halted in August 2021 following interim proceedings launched ahead of the season, and the original agreement was later replaced by a non-exclusive contract signed on 4 August 2022 that enabled other operators (including Sky) to strike DAZN partnerships.
DAZN remains the key Serie A rights-holder in Italy through to 2029, keeping scrutiny on how top-tier football is packaged and distributed across broadband and platform partners.
