DAZN partners with EI Towers and Eutelsat for satellite delivery in Italy

Italian video service provider, EI Towers has entered into multi-year partnership with sports entertainment platform DAZN to expand its content distribution to homes across Italy via Eutelsat Communications’ Hotbird satellites.

DAZN will be distributing two HD channels, one full-time channel and one events-based channel, via Italy’s free satellite TV package, Tivùsat, at 13° East.

Tivùsat currently broadcasts over 180 TV and radio channels to around six million viewers, according to the satellite platform. From September,  Tivùsat households can subscribe to ZONA DAZN and watch seven exclusive Serie A TIM football matches, LaLiga EA sports as well as a wide range of live and on-demand content from the sports streamer.

EI Towers said its manages the majority of the country’s national and regional digital terrestrial (DTT) networks. Providing integrated and customised solutions to all content providers, for distribution on all platforms in addition to DTT, the agreement includes the transportation of the channel feeds from DAZN’s playout to EI Towers’ main Head-End and Broadcast Centre, encoding, encryption, multiplexing, and uplink on the Hotbird satellites.

Speaking on the deal, Stefano Azzi, CEO of DAZN Italia said: “Thanks to the new partnership with Tivùsat, we are expanding the methods of accessing our service to make the premium content we broadcast increasingly accessible. Our product is now usable in live streaming, on digital terrestrial and even more widely on satellite. As we continue to innovate our app to offer customers more engaging and interactive digital experiences, strengthening our presence on the satellite platform will allow us to reach fans even in areas with less internet access.”

Alberto Sigismondi, president of Tivùsat, commented: “We are particularly happy to be able to announce that from today, on the free Italian satellite platform Tivùsat, it will also be possible to receive DAZN premium content, with the ZONA DAZN offer from Serie A TIM, a dedicated channel accessible from every corner of the country from the mountains to the islands. Simplicity, quality and free have always been the basis of our satellite television offer: adding to this an important subscription option such as the DAZN service only confirms the value of our commitment and the strategic nature of our services also for premium content publishers”.

Laurence Delpy, General Manager of Eutelsat’s Video Business Unit, added: “This new deal highlights the continued relevance of satellite distribution, for content producers to reach the widest possible audience, no matter how remote they are located. It is essential when delivering highly popular sports content where every second counts. Satellite delivery is truly universal, and the perfect complement to streaming. It reaches all locations, no matter how remote, with a high-quality, reliable signal, and is the most efficient and sustainable means of distributing content, reaching all users with one single signal.”