Mediaset set for Italian Cup rights award

Mediaset has reportedly won the exclusive rights to broadcast the next three seasons of football’s Italian Cup.

According to Reuters, the operator will pay €144.6 million Euros to screen the competition along with the finals of the SupperCoppa Italiana. This would be an increase from the €105.6 million previously committed to RAI for the competition, and exceeds Serie A’s target price of at least €126 million for the Coppa Italia rights. 

The deal is yet to be confirmed by Mediaset, with the news wire citing three sources close to the deal. The report goes on to note that the rights were awarded during a teleconference meeting on Thursday. 

While this deal appears to be uncomplicated, the situation surrounding Italy’s national league – Serie A – continues to be disputed. 

DAZN secured an ‘historic’ deal to be the league’s primary broadcaster earlier this year, but the sports streamer’s partnership with TIM has raised the ire of Sky Italia. The operator launched a formal antitrust challenge to the deal last week, arguing that the deal is “illegitimate” and that the tie-up will serve to strengthen TIM’s dominant position in the market by preventing DAZN from agreeing deals with other operators.