Sports streaming platform Dazn has finally acquired the domestic rights to air Italy’s top-tier Serie A football league for the 2021-24 cycle, including 7 out of 10 exclusive games per matchweek. Dazn outbid Sky with an offer of around EUR 2.5 billion (EUR 840 million a season) compared to Sky Italia’s bid of EUR 2.25 million, with the satellite operator expected to land the rights to air 3 games per matchday on a non-exclusive basis. Sky and Dazn are the current holders of the domestic Serie A rights, having paid EUR 973 million per season for the 2018-2021 cycle back in 2018.
In a statement, Dazn described the deal as "a seminal tipping point in the migration of sports consumption from linear pay TV to OTT". In total it will be airing 266 Serie A exclusive matches and 114 co-exclusive matches, or seven out of 10 exclusive matches per matchweek as well as three co-exclusive matches, throughout the 2021-24 period.
Dazn’s successful bid was backed by Telecom Italia (TIM), which committed to covering around 40 percent of the rights fee, equivalent to some EUR 336 million per season. In a statement following the award, TIM said it will air Serie A matches on its TIMvision streaming service over the next 3 years, converting the company into the reference telecommunications and pay-TV operator for Dazn content in Italy.
It added that the new partnership will be active from July 2021 with dedicated Dazn service offers reserved for TIM customers including Serie A matches, which are currently viewed by around 5 million households mainly via satellite. TIM also said it intends to work together with Dazn and other institutions to adopt a series of measures to strengthen the fight against the illegal distribution of matches.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Dazn was discussing the possibility of acquiring DTT frequencies in Italy if it won the Serie A auction with a view to easing the concerns of some clubs regarding its nationwide reach.
