The Infront Sports & Media agency has signed a six-year deal to become exclusive media rights advisor to Lega Calcio, which controls the media rights for Italian football’s Serie A and Serie B. The deal runs from the start of the 2010-11 season until the end of the 2015-16 season.
The two parties have been working together since July 2008, during which time they have developed a central distribution strategy and a tender process for the sale of media rights around the world. Infront has also advised the league on the sale of broadcast packages for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, including highlights and radio rights for Serie A and Serie B, pay-television rights for Serie B, and rights for the TIM Cup and the TIM Supercup which are also included under the new contract.
The new centralised selling strategy will begin during the sale of rights for the period beginning with the 2010-11 season.
The new contract was signed on Tuesday, following the League’s assembly. Present at the signing were Philippe Blatter, president and CEO of Infront Sports & Media, Marco Bogarelli, president of Infront Italy, and Antonio Matarrese, president of Lega Calcio.
A press release from Infront said that the new deal will result in “greater consistency in the League’s production, format and presentation” of media products and “considerable effort…invested into a system of protection, to ensure that rights sold exclusively will be protected from piracy.” The press release said there are also plans to create a dedicated “Lega Calcio” television channel.
