Ten days after the start of the Serie A championship, Tim and Dazn have reached an agreement that puts an end to the exclusive relationship between the app and the former monopolist, making it possible to watch the matches also on other platforms, starting with Sky. A complex game, made up of joints. First, it was essential to reach an agreement on the armored contract bequeathed by Tim’s former CEO, Luigi Gubitosi: an agreement for which, in the winter of 2021, Tim put just over a billion euros on the plate but then having to set aside 540 million euros. In short, what was to turn out to be the killer application that would bring fiber to the homes of all Italians with a boom in season tickets driven by football has turned into a disappointment. Also for the Italian football which found itself having to deal with an overall audience lower than expected.
After Tim’s green light, then Dazn will be able to close the agreement with Sky to enter the Comcast pay TV bouquet. It is difficult, however, that Serie A is also visible on Amazon, while it is not excluded that once the master of its own (commercial) destiny, Dazn enters into other agreements with different players. From an economic point of view, Tim could save several tens of millions of euros, while the app could collect many more landing on different platforms.
On the other hand, Dazn has been talking to Sky and all the players in the sector for months to understand who might be interested in taking over. Also because if the last season, however fought until the last game, from the championship to the relegation, has registered a haemorrhage of ratings. The fault – above all – of the difficulty in detecting the listeners of the Otti, from Dazn to Disney, from Netflix to Amazon Prime. A difficulty that makes it even more complicated to understand how much the seven matches a week that Tim and Dazn won exclusively by investing 840 million euros a year for the three-year period 2021-2024 are really worth.