A 2021 full of news for football on TV is going to be archived: Serie A exclusively on Dazn, the success of the European Championships broadcast by Raiuno and Sky (21 million viewers for the Italy-England final), the Champions League still much loved by Italian football fans as evidenced by the excellent ratings on Canale 5 and Sky. The free-to-air games are confirmed at the top of the audience, interest in the Serie A championship is decreasing.
DAZN. It is the surprise and at the same time the disappointment of the year: the platform has secured the rights of the Serie A championship and broadcasts it in streaming on a territory lacking adequate structures.
Thanks to Dazn, the word buffering was discovered, that is the wheel that invades the screen during a game action and ruins the vision for subscribers. The modest quality of the images (“it will improve as soon as possible” they assure the group), the delay with which they arrive (about a minute after the radio, about twenty seconds compared to Sky) and the mediocre packaging of the games with commentaries and comments that flood the viewer with often useless words. The symbol of the platform is Diletta Leotta, for Marco Cattaneo and Giorgia Rossi switching to Dazn was only an economic benefit.
SKY. Having lost much of the Serie A, Sky is mourned by many viewers both for the safety of the satellite signal and for the quality of the images and the story of the matches. As for the commentary, in addition to the “certainties” Maurizio Compagnoni and Massimo Marianella, the quality of the emerging Federico Zancan and Andrea Marinozzi should be noted. “Il club” by Fabio Caressa on Sunday evening and the container of the Champions League conducted with skill by Anna Billò are the best containers on Italian TV football, excellent the way in which the Champions League, the Premier League, the Bundesliga and the Ligue1. The ratings obtained with the Europeans have been excellent.
RAIUNO. State TV triumphed in the audience with the Europeans and the National team, well told by the Rimedio-Di Gennaro couple, unfortunately absent in the England-Italy final, bounced on the highly prepared Stefano Bizzotto flanked in spite of himself by the “commentator of the obvious” Katia Serra. For the rest, the side broadcasts on Europeans and Serie A seem to entertain only those who do them starting from the hilarious Marco Lollobrigida. Leading commentator is the “new entry” Daniele Adani, an important purchase for the upcoming World Cup which is now Rai exclusive.
MEDIASET. The flagship is the Champions League, orphan of Pierluigi Pardo expelled from the network and well replaced by Riccardo Trevisani and Massimo Callegari: the match broadcast on Tuesday generally gathers over 4 million viewers, ensuring Canale 5 dominance in the evening. For the first time the Milanese group broadcasts the Italian Cup and highlights it. Low ratings for “Pressing”, unavoidable considering the program. In addition, the Mediaset Infinity platform was born in August.
AMAZON PRIME. This is the novelty of the year: unfortunately, considering the quality, it offers only one Champions League match every round. The new couple Sandro Piccinini and Massimo Ambrosini is remarkable.
SPORTITALIA. To the many words, Michele Crisciello’s network also combined the matches by offering the Primavera championship and a lot of South American football on the new channel, SoloCalcio.
THE OTHERS. Three new entries in 2021: the Helbiz platform has landed in football through the B series, OneFootball is a German-owned App that broadcasts many games every week of the most varied leagues (Portugal, Austria, China, India) for free, the recent Mola TV has secured the rights of the Eredivisie and the Greek league and offers them on its website. On Eleven Sports, as always, the whole C series.