Serie A: Infront and Mediaset suspected of making an illegal agreement for the 2015-2018 TV rights

The prosecutor of Milan (ITA) and the Guardia di Finanza (Italian Customs and Financial Police) have conducted several searches in the premises of the Mediaset broadcasting group, the marketing and media rights agencies Infront Italy and MP & Silva, the Lega Serie A, Genoa CFC (Serie A TIM) and FC Bari 1908 (Serie B) since 09/10/2015. These different actors are suspected of concluding anti-competitive agreements within the framework of the marketing of the 2015-2018 audiovisual rights to the Serie A TIM, following an investigation launched by the AGCM, the Italian Competition Authority, on 19/05/2015.

"Infront management, as part of the allocation of audiovisual license fees related to sporting events, in collusion with the leaders of RTI (Mediaset group), has manipulated the relevant tenders and contracts, as well as the fair and impartial enforcement of procedure, particularly by violating the rules of transparency and fair competition for the candidate (bidder) RTI," reads the search warrant from Italian magistrates Roberto Pellicano, Paolo Filippini and Giovanni Polizzi.

The…