Serie A are planning to acquire part or all of Italy’s leading pay-TV operator Sky Italia in order to build a Serie A TV platform.
The Italian league is said to be preparing a bid to acquire mostly the sporting division of Sky in Italy or all of it, in partnership with a third party with Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Barclays expressing interest.
The news of Serie A preparing a bid comes after Sky CEO Andrea Duilio presented a cost-cutting plan that could see the loss of up to 800 internal and contractor posts. There is also the option of voluntary redundancy for the employees. There has already been a loss of 400 internal posts, given the concluded agreement in 2021.
The idea at Serie A, as proposed by boss Luigi de Siervo is to build a Serie A TV platform using the infrastructure, organization, and customer base of Sky. With Comcast having invested significantly in developing their base in Italy in recent years, it remains unknown if they are willing to sell their Italian operation. That being said, the American telecommunication giant is indeed planning on the sale of its underperforming German operation, in comparison to the vastly popular and successful UK model.
As of now, Sky's main competition in Italy to cover Serie A is DAZN though Sky has invested in developing a broadband base in the form of Sky Wifi. The company has also managed to launch Sky Glass, and Sky and Comcast's integrated TV service in Italy.
The current rights deals for Serie A expire next year. DAZN holds a chunk of key Serie A rights.
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