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Italian law change abolishes three year limit on foreign TV rights deals

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Serie A bosses are celebrating a recent change to an Italian law which prevented longer agreements

A change in the Italian legal system has seen the abolition of three-year limits on foreign TV rights contracts. Previously, the league was unable to sign deals with foreign broadcasters lasting more than three years. From now on, Serie A will be able to sign more lucrative, long term agreements with companies outside of Italy.

Serie A President Lorenzo Casini praised the judgement, saying:

“The new rules will help increase revenue, with bigger returns that will have a favorable impact on the entire soccer system,”

Serie A's foreign rights are mostly handled by a Swiss-based marketing company called Infront. The league signed a three-year agreement with Infront which is up at the end of the 2023-24 season.

However, rights to Serie A football in the United States were sold directly to CBS in a deal worth around €64m per season. That deal runs for the following three campaigns.

This figure is drastically less than the $450m per season deal which the English Premier League agreed with US network NBC which is set to run for the next three seasons.

One area of the world in which Serie A may be able to capitalise on this change is the MENA region. After a dispute with Qatari-owned giant beIN Sports over piracy concerns involving Saudi Arabia, Serie A was forced to make its matches available for free on YouTube in the Middle East and North Africa, with no other suitors picking up the rights.

Reports suggest that Serie A and beIN Sports may be close to a reconciliation with several parties acting as mediators between the two. If they are able to get around the table again to strike a new TV rights deal for Serie A in the MENA region, this agreement could now run for more than three years, increasing revenue for the league and its clubs.

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