Sky Italia insist “we’re sure our subscribers will continue to be able to watch Serie A matches”, despite Mediapro winning the rights.
The Spanish company bid €1.05bn for the 2018-2021 rights, beating offers from Sky and Mediaset Premium.
However, it’s not expected that Mediapro will broadcast the matches themselves, but rather tender them to others, with one possible option being a dedicated Serie A tv channel, with Sky and Mediaset picking up some other matches.
“Our company operates by buying rights,” Riccardo Pugnalin, Sky Italia’s executive Vice-President told La Repubblica.
“This time we’ll also buy the rights to Serie A from those who have the legal rights to sell them to broadcasters. We’ll wait to see in the coming months if and how they’ll be awarded to Mediapro.
“We’re sure our subscribers will continue to be able to watch Serie A matches on Sky.
“The Lega Serie A considered Mediapro’s offer to be fair, but before the rights are awarded we have to wait for the examination and authorisation by the antitrust authority.”