The new auction for television rights for the 2018-9 Champions League is upon us (it will be held in April) but Mediaset Premium is in a cul de sac and does not have the resources to compete with Sky and the other television networks because the extension of the dispute with Vivendi which, barring unlikely compromises, will only be concluded in the autumn is putting her back against the wall. Especially since in the summer there will also be a call for Serie A images.
At this point, if a clearing with Vincent Bollorè's Frenchmen doesn't intervene, there are two roads that open up in front of the Berlusconi family's pay TV, one more demanding than the other. The first is to seek at least a commercial alliance with Telecom Italia (of which, however, Vivendi controls 25% and will not make discounts) which, however, will be unlikely to have immediate effects.
The second alternative to Mediaset Premium is drastic but perhaps the most realistic: to sell everything to Sky which has been waiting for years on the river bank for Berlusconi's pay, which has always been at a loss since it was born in 2005 and which
he sensationally failed the Champions operation. Naturally, Murdoch has the knife on the side of the handle who, according to financial analysts, will not offer even half a billion euros to take home Mediaset premium.
In the meantime, today Pier Silvio Berlusconi recalled how much the quarrels with Vivendi cost the Cologno Monzese company: an economic impact close to 100 million euros. 'The Premium affair gave us a blow – said the managing director on the sidelines of a press conference – I'm not talking about losses but it worsened Mediaset's accounts by a figure close to 100 million”.
Berlsconi spoke in detail about the various factors that have damaged the Italian company: "From hedging the shares because there was an exchange of shares (in the agreement with Vivendi, ed) to the interim management period of Premium in which they made us buy and make deals about things we weren't going to do until trade policy slowed down. It was a blow, but in 2017 we will make up for it ”he concluded.
