Italian media group Mediaset has moved to reject reports that it will seek to sublicense some of its exclusive rights to club football competition the Uefa Champions League, stating such suggestions have the “sole purpose of confusing the public."
Mediaset in February 2014 agreed to pay just over €230m ($285.2m) per season for exclusive rights to the Champions League in Italy for three seasons, from 2015-16 to 2017-18.
Reports have linked pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia with a deal to acquire some of these rights, but Mediaset has denied any such suggestions.
Mediaset said: “In connection with rumours and ambiguity being printed on TV rights for the Champions League 2015-2018, Mediaset invites the media not to feed fanciful hypotheses circulated with the sole purpose of confusing the public.
“We are not in negotiations for agreements of sub-sale of TV rights to other broadcasters for the Champions League acquired exclusively by Mediaset for the years 2015-2018. Negotiations will not open either now or in the next few months.”