The Italian Competition Authority targest an allegedly anti-competitive agreement for football TV rights

By the decision made on 13 May 2015 the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) has opened an article 101 TFEU investigation against two major TV operators, Sky and RTI, the Italian Football League (ILA) and its advisor for the marketing of TV rights, Infront, concerning the sale of TV rights for the Serie A League for the 2015-2018 period (CaseI780, Diritti Televisivi Serie A).
The Legislative Decree no. 9/2008 has introduced the centralized system for the sale of football TV rights, which are jointly held by the ILA and the partecipating football clubs. In June 2014 the ILA organized a competitive tender procedures for the award, among other things, of the following contracts: i) contract A for the TV rights for the satellite platform; ii) contract B for the TV rights for the digital terrestrial platform and iii) contract D for the TV rights for all platforms for minor clubs' matches. On the basis of the criteria draft by the advisor Infront, the ILA had to award the contracts A and B to Sky, why the contract D might not be awarded to RTI, whose conditional bid was not valid according to the tender notice. Instead, the ILA awarded the contract A to Sky and the contracts B and D ro RTI. Importantly, the ILA decision was approved by the ICA itself and also by the Italian telecommunications regulators AGCOM.

This is not the end of the story, though. Following a news report alleging a meeting between the owners of Sky and Mediaset having as object the TV rights for Serie A League, on 13 May 2015 the ICA changed its mind. Indeed, the ICA has taken the view that the parties had put in place a market sharing agreement based on a historical criterion and started an investigation into it. By such agreements the parties crystallized their previous market positions, with Sky keeping the TV rights for the satellite platform and RTI the TV rights for the digital terrestrial to the detriment of potential competitors, namely the Eurosport TV chain. The challenged agreement might be of benefit also for football clubs, whose revenues from TV rights are expected to be higher than those coming from the arrangement previously in force.

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