Serie A TV rights: the Milan Court confirms that Mediapro will not be awarded the rights

The Court of Milan has confirmed, on appeal, the decision of the first ruling on 07/05/2018, to suspend the awarding of the domestic audiovisual rights of the Serie A for the 2018-2021 period to Mediapro, following an appeal from the pay-TV group Sky Italia on 16/04/2018, as it would "violate the principles of antitrust law (a guarantee of competition in the market)," explained the Court on 11/06/2018.

Mediapro was granted the domestic audiovisual rights to Serie A for the 2018-2021 cycle by the Lega Serie A as an independent intermediary for an annual amount of €1.05bn on 05/02/2018. Mediapro had issued a tender comprising of seven lots (one for the satellite broadcast, two for free-TV, two for OTT and two for the IPTV) on 06/04/2018. 

The Lega Serie A had broken - via the unanimous decision of its clubs - the contract for the attribution of the audiovisual rights for the 2018-19 cycle with Mediapro on 28/05/2018  and communicated the terms of the negotiations by mutual agreement for the allocation of these rights, on 31/05 and 08/06/2018. "The guarantee paid is not in compliance…