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By Elvira Pollina
MILAN, Oct 19 (Reuters) – Serie A representatives will meet on Monday to discuss whether to back TV rights deals worth 4. 5 billion euros ($4. 8 billion) over five years or bet big on plans to create their own media platform to distribute football matches. League and club officials said.
TV rights are a source of revenue for Serie A groups, such as this year’s champions Napoli, Juventus and Milanese clubs AC Milan and Inter, who are struggling to remain competitive against European rivals with more lucrative broadcast deals.
After four months of negotiations, the main rights holder, DAZN, has submitted an offer of 700 million euros to broadcast all Serie A matches for the five seasons until 2028/2029 in Italy, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Sky Italia has released around €200 million to co-broadcast three out of ten Serie A matches per day, according to the same sources. The new offers would come into effect from next season.
Both proposals have been advanced compared to previous offers. Including certain variable components, the offers are close to the total price of notable transactions, i. e. €930 million, according to the sources.
However, some clubs are sceptical about the offer and would like the league to look at the option of releasing its own media company with the help of monetary investors.
The launch of a TV streaming service platform to broadcast matches would be the first in a primary league in Europe.
The league has already won proposals from investment companies and personal equity budgets willing to partner with it to create a media platform to distribute Serie A matches to other TV channels, as well as the launch of a video streaming subscription service through the league. $1 = 0. 9475 euros) (Reporting via Elvira Pollina, editing via Keith Weir)