The competition for TV rights in Italy for the 2018-2020 Champions League is in full swing. The novelty is that the matches will be distributed over a double time slot: no longer just prime time, but also early evening (19pm). The process for submitting offers has started and the deadline is set for 12 June.
However, the procedure takes place in a very different way compared to what is foreseen for Serie A: UEFA does not propose a public tender, but invites those it deems interested to make offers (although this does not mean that anyone can come forward). .
So far, according to what Il Sole 24 Ore writes, Mediaset, Sky, Discovery (the parent company of Eurosport), Rai and La7 would have been contacted. Among the telecommunications companies, Telecom Italia would also have received an invitation.
The auction is then organized into 5 vertical packages, by time slots, but without making a distinction for digital. This means that those who want to secure the rights must invest for the whole package. A detail that should put all telcos out of business.
The costs, in fact, are very high: for the three-year period 2015-18 Mediaset Premium has disbursed around 230 million euros per season. At the moment, considering the difficulties that the snake's pay TV is going through, Sky seems to be the favourite.
