Italian soccer’s top-tier Serie A has extended its media rights tie-up in the UK and Ireland with pay-TV’s TNT Sports through 2026-27. This deal represents a three-season renewal of the existing partnership between the Italian league and TNT.
This marks the second major Serie A rights deal revealed in the last week, following confirmation of a renewal in the US with existing partner CBS Sports, which will run for two seasons. The extension between Serie A and TNT will span three seasons, according to Sportcal (GlobalData Sport).
TNT Sports, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, won't cover all 380 Serie A fixtures per season under this agreement but will showcase a selection of matches – during the last cycle, it covered five fixtures each game week.
TNT shares good relationship with Serie A
The broadcaster (formerly BT Sport) also aired Serie A action across the UK and Ireland during previous cycles from 2021-22 to 2023-24. Free-to-air broadcaster ITV showed a selection of matches at season's end.
Before this partnership came into effect, Premier Sports held broadcasting rights. The value of that original deal between Serie A and BT Sport is estimated by GlobalData Sport to be around $4.75 million per season.
British players currently playing at Serie A clubs include Tammy Abraham and Chris Smalling at Roma; Fikayo Tomori and Ruben Loftus-Cheek at AC Milan; Scotland's Lewis Ferguson at Bologna.
Serie A picking pace in international tenders
Serie A’s international rights tenders have been taking place since mid-2023, with substantial changes made to its method for selling media rights across future cycles. Previously held predominantly by Infront agency, now most negotiations are being carried out directly with broadcasters in various markets, although Infront is still distributing rights across Asia-Pacific. This process is being led by Anna Guarnerio, who joined the league in a senior media rights role after 25 years at Infront Italy.
In mid-June, a three-year deal was struck across the DACH countries (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) with global sports streaming service DAZN. During the last cycle, Serie A reportedly earned just over $650 million from overseas broadcast rights for three seasons.
Domestically, coverage will be provided by DAZN and pay-TV’s Sky Italia for the next five seasons. TNT Sports will also cover action from the English Premier League matches next season as well as UEFA Champions League pan-European competition. In February 2022 it was confirmed that TNT Sports would be the main rights-holder for domestic FA Cup (knockout competition) rights between 2025-26 and end of 2028-29.
