Football and TV Rights: Serie A is back on Sky! For who?

The assignment of TV rights is always a sensitive issue for football fans, so much so that it is often accompanied by problems and controversies.

Behind these choices, however, there are many different interests and many issues that arise systematically: from the problem of “stew football” to the problem of streaming, which has arisen since Dazn has become a very important player in this scenario.

Many consumers have been very annoyed in recent years by the continuous change in the assignment of rights, which has forced some subjects to change the type of subscription practically every year, or almost every year.

Starting a few years ago when the Champion’s League passed into the hands of Mediaset, which however made a very (too) important investment and did not fall within the costs incurred. Without considering that Serie A and Champion’s League are certainly not the only competitions of interest to consumers.

In fact, there are also the other championships, on all Premier League and Liga, but also the national cups (in Italy the national cup was on Rai and now it has passed to Mediaset) and the other European cups, such as the Europa League and the newly created Conference League.

In conclusion, finding your way around the subscriptions becomes a real problem, so much so that some issues have reached Parliament, given that football is still a sector of national interest that moves a lot of money.

Furthermore, the disservices of Dazn (although this is not new) during the first day they stirred the waters further, with Sky trying to take advantage of this moment of weakness to conclude a favorable agreement.

Of course we will see what will happen in these months, but for now we will limit ourselves to exposing the state of things and some of the reasons that led to this situation.

Linked to the issue of football rights, there is also what concerns the transmission of the television signal in the next few years, which will force many subjects to have to buy a new device, which is why the TV scrapping bonus was born.

If you are interested or interested in learning more about this kind of issues, we suggest you the YouTube channel “The Wam Redaction” which talks about what concerns bonuses, subsidies and the world of work in general, through new videos that are published every day. . In this video we talk about the TV scrapping bonus and how it works (is active from 23 August):

Football TV rights: the situation

Let’s start from what the current situation is, with the assignment of TV rights by Lega Serie A in particular that it was very troubled, between appeals and various moments of confrontation.

At the moment Dazn holds the rights for the entire Serie A, therefore ten games in each round of the championship (ie for 38 rounds), even if three are shared with Sky, which can then broadcast them via satellite. This means that the other 7 games are entirely streaming, without the possibility for users to use it in any other way, except with a Dazn subscription.

Sky initially felt the pinch, then trying to raise everything on the highlights package. In fact, for the seven matches that Sky cannot broadcast, it should at least have been able to broadcast the most important occasions, that is, the report of the match with goals and key moments of the match.

Lega Serie A, however, then decided not to assign this package, thus leaving the seven games exclusively to Dazn (which can also broadcast the highlights) and the other three shared between Dazn and Sky.

An incalculable damage for Sky, which for years had held the rights of the Italian championship and which suddenly became much less attractive not only in the eyes of potential new customers, but also for those who have always been customers, until today.

The temptation to leave Sky for Dazn is felt.

Except that though the rights to the Champion’s League are held by Sky and therefore having only one subscription and being able to see the main competitions of interest in Italy becomes practically impossible.

In fact, however, there is a system and we will see it later.

Football TV rights: here’s the news

The novelty concerns the possibility of see Serie A on Sky, therefore, everything in which Sky subscribers have been hoping for two months now.

In reality it is not a novelty that concerns private individuals, but only those who have a Sky Business subscription, because they broadcast the games in their local. Let’s talk about who has bars and restaurants and broadcasts the matches, by subscribing to a very different subscription from the one subscribed by those who watch the games on television on the sofa at home.

This agreement comes precisely to guarantee this kind of subjects and activities to broadcast the game anyway even if you do not have a Dazn account. Specifically, in this way on the premises you can enjoy the game without interruptions and technical problems that instead occurred with Dazn.

In reality, Sky would have gladly concluded a much more generous and important agreement than this, making the games visible on TV even for those who have Sky in their private home.

Dazn did not want to conclude this agreement, which severely damaged Sky, only to make another agreement with Tim for a package that could understand the domestic league and also the big eared cup, la Champion’s League.

For this reason Sky appealed and sued, arguing that Dazn acted incorrectly and that their agreement was not compliant, although perhaps it was just a desperate move to secure compensation for damages.

Compensation that has not arrived, even if Sky has concluded the agreement for those who use the business account, as previously mentioned.

A small victory for Sky but he lost this battle for the assignment of the rights and could even consider much more risky moves in the future, to regain the position of market leader with exclusivity on the Serie A and beyond, as we will see later.

Football TV rights: is streaming the future?

This question has been very recurring since Dazn, as we said earlier, became one of the great contenders in the race for TV rights. However, there was a step back when last season, by virtue of an agreement between the two giants, the exclusive match that Dazn had on Sky was visible.

A collaboration that led Sky customers to have all the Serie A, simply by scrolling through the channels (the Dazn channel, which was only one and therefore broadcast one game at a time, was 209), therefore without having to deal with the difficulties that exist this season.

Now we look to the future, because without streaming you cannot follow Serie A.

This means having a modern television, one of the so-called “Smart TVs”, or using a console that acts as an intermediary. Otherwise, you can follow the games from mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablets and computers.

So now we are really at the test of the 9 of this mode, which in the first day of the championship could definitely go better, it must be said, but that in any case will still have time to settle down, also because for the first time users have no alternatives.

The complaints are legitimate, of course, but the current situation says that canceling the Dazn subscription is equivalent to not seeing Serie A matches.

Football TV rights: and with TIM Vision?

Watch out for another major player in this scenario: Tim Vision.

The possibility is to subscribe to a subscription from 29.99 euros per month, that is the same price as Dazn, but also with the Champion’s League included.

In fact, Dazn and Tim have made an agreement that allows subscribers to see all Serie A matches, but at the same time on Tim Vision there is also Infinity Plus, which holds the rights to broadcast the Champion’s League (in addition to the other championships already present with Dazn, such as La Liga and the Europa League).

Overall an affordable offer, which allows you to access the two most important competitions at the same price as a subscription with Dazn.

Sky obviously did not welcome the news, because this agreement between Tim and Dazn strongly damages the English giant. Among other things, the Tim-Dazn agreement is partially secreted and therefore it is not possible to know the details or at least not all.

Sky appealed this agreement as irregular, as it claims that Dazn would have no convenience in making such a deal, with Tim Vision paradoxically encompassing more games and competitions of interest than Dazn itself.

Reasonable consideration, but the appeal was not accepted e the agreement between Dazn and Tim was considered perfectly regular and suitable.

Sky, therefore, remains unpretentious and with a decidedly considerable damage compared to previous years, despite having Premier League, Ligue 1, Bundesliga and Champion’s League (but let’s not forget the engines, with Formula 1 and MotoGP).

Football TV Rights: What Will Happen?

So what will happen in the near future? We must first understand how Dazn will solve the signal problems that there have been in these first days of “intense” activity with the resumption of the championships.

In the meantime, Sky has managed to reach an agreement to broadcast via satellite at least to those who have Sky Business, that is, as mentioned, who will broadcast in public places such as bars, pubs, restaurants and the like.

A complex situation, in which the quality of the service offered by Tim will also be assessed (i.e. by Infinity Plus and Dazn, actually), without forgetting another giant, in the true sense of the word, which has just entered the big football: Amazon .

Amazon’s idea is to start getting serious in this field and the first signs suggest huge investments to offer a great service, which could surpass Dazn in quality.

We will therefore see what the developments will be even if today it is impossible to make hypotheses that are not based on the current state of things, despite the fact that there are many rumors, more or less reliable, on the possibility that Dazn is “dismissed” from his position due to the service not up to expectations.