Sky, Dazn, Amazon. Verso coexclusive at lower prices – breaking latest news

According to approved guidelines by the Antitrust last week the new tender for television rights which for the first time will be able to have a five-year duration – as well as three years – must contain very specific characteristics.

First of all, according to the Antitrust «the articulation of the packages must necessarily be such as to allow different operators, regardless of the reference platform in which they operate, to mutually represent alternatives capable of exercising competitive pressure first in terms of lowering of the general price level charged to final consumers for watching professional league matches».

«In general, as already noted, the possibility of offers by several operators, without the provision of exclusive deals or other contractual mechanisms having a similar content or effect, characterized by constraints with a multi-year duration, has the effect of stimulating competition between different operators based on price and quality of service. This determines a benefit not only for consumers in terms of lower prices for the use of the service, but also for Lega Professioni itself, which could receive requests for upward assignment from various operators even if it intends to operate direct distribution”. reads the document. “Finally, it is again hoped that the assignment will allow for the creation of wholesale offers — that are available simultaneously on multiple platforms and multiple pay-TV operators — through assignment to non-vertically integrated subjects or through direct marketing to users, using the technical services of existing platforms”.

What does it mean? That the Antitrust expects Serie A matches to be broadcast across multiple platforms and at affordable prices. Suggestions that the League will have to take into account when compiling the announcement. Today the assembly is taking place via videoconference: CEO De Siervo presented the 80-page document, the invitation to offer, in practice, the regulatory framework of the tender. The presidents did not vote for it, having deferred to the next meeting of 5 maggio each voting procedure.

Packages: how they work

On that day Luigi De Siervo will present the packages, which will be structured dynamically so as to allow several operators to compete simultaneously. In the guidelines there are two criteria to inspire. A quantitative criterion: the smallest package includes at least a quarter of the races of the largest package, whatever the method of sale; a qualitative criterion: the smallest package includes games played in a single time window (from 18.00 onwards) during the championship in a number equal to at least half of the games contained in that package.

The wish of the leaders of the League is that in addition to Dazn, Sky is back in the running with an important investmentwhich has already had the lion’s share in the call for Champions League rights, Amazon Prime – which is already present in the Premier League – and above all a telephone company. Moreover, «the Authority deems it preferable to prepare packages that stimulate competition in the downstream pay-TV market, allowing more pay-TV operators to be able to broadcast a large part of the A series, multiplying the distribution platforms, and accentuating the substitutability – and therefore competition – between pay-TV operators, with the benefit of users in terms of greater choice and lower prices”. That’s why it goes towards building five kinds of packages. «In other words, the packages need to be designed in such a way as to develop offers to final consumers that are in competition and not complementary. This, in particular, can be achieved through an elimination of exclusives with packages that have a consistent part of shared events», concludes the authority. Friday 5th the veil will be lifted.