President Pedone’s sensational stance: live matches are at stake. The club: “We are not against streaming but we want to reach more fans”
The dispute between the Apu and the National Basketball League over television rights ends in court. A skirmish born during the 2020/21 season now becomes the subject of a legal battle, as the APU has filed a petition against the league that manages the Serie A2 and Serie B championships.
The reason for the dispute is to be found in the change of course regarding the broadcasting of league matches since the pandemic has forced the disputes of the races behind closed doors. Before Covid-19, in fact, the APU broadcast the live matches of away matches, but not those at home, with the clear intention of safeguarding box office revenues. With the 2020/21 championship behind closed doors, the situation has completely changed. On the one hand, the APU decided to broadcast home matches and some away matches on Udinese TV thanks to an agreement with Udinese Spa., On the other, the National Basketball League intending to develop the Lnp TV Pass project which provides for the use of all matches of the A2 championship in streaming upon subscription.
The position of the APU in the affair is summarized by the lawyer Paolo Gnesutta: “The National Basketball League assumes that it has competences, also in the field of audiovisual rights, and therefore unilaterally arrogates itself the right to prevent companies from exercising their rights, or at least it strongly limits its use. The company Lnp srl. Was established, with which subscriptions to Lnp Tv Pass are sold: we are not opposed to this project, whose revenues could revert to the associated companies, although nothing has returned to date. We want to guarantee maximum visibility to our public and our sponsors. The target? It is to obtain the annulment of the resolution of the association that prevented the exercise of audiovisual rights and the annulment of the provisions of the sanctions of the Lnp judge ».
The APU, in fact, also filed a petition against the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena because, as Gnesutta explains, “at the end of the process the National Basketball League forwarded the documentation to the Lega judge, who issued fines for 4,500 total euros “. In conclusion, the lawyer Gnesutta underlines the reason that prompted the APU to undertake this legal battle: “It is certainly not for the 4500 euros, but because in a period of pandemic, with sports halls closed or open to a small extent, prevent company to reach its audience seems to us a mistake. The possibility of broadcasting the matches through all possible channels should be guaranteed ».