A five package structure of rights was offered to the market, which included live and delayed match coverage, highlights on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights and the UEFA Champions League magazine programme.
Under the deal Sky Italia will broadcast two of the three live match packages which were available, including the best match on a Tuesday, and picks three to 16 (the remaining match picks on each of Tuesday and Wednesday after the first picks) as well as the non-exclusive rights to Tuesday and Wednesday highlights programmes.
The remaining premium package including live coverage of 16 Wednesday first match pick, the Saturday final (which will be simultaneously broadcast with Sky) and the UEFA Super Cup is still to be awarded, along with the non-exclusive Tuesday and Wednesday highlights programmes.
Current pay rights-holder Mediaset immediately said that it would lodge a complaint with the Italian antitrust authority, l’Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, that Sky was abusing a dominant position in the pay-TV market by acquiring the rights exclusively and arguing that Sky should now make digital-terrestrial rights available to the market on fair and reasonable terms.
