By Tariq Saleh
Eleven Sports, the international sports subscription broadcaster, Viacom18, one of India’s leading entertainment networks, and FuboTV, the US over-the-top live television and sporting streaming service, have become the latest companies to secure deals for Italian soccer’s top-flight Serie A ahead of the new season tomorrow.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Under exclusive three-year agreements running to 2023-24, Eleven has secured rights in Belgium, while Viacom18 will show the league in the Indian sub-continent, and FuboTV in Canada.
The deals were landed by Infront, the international sports marketing agency that is responsible for the distribution of rights to Serie A around the world.
Coverage will begin from the start of the season tomorrow, starting with champions Inter Milan’s match against Genoa.
Eleven's deal in Belgium, announced today, is a renewal, with the broadcaster having been the home of Serie A in the country since it launched its platform in 2015.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataIt will continue to provide linear television and digital coverage of the top Italian league, which features multiple Belgian players such as Napoli's Dries Mertens, AC Milan's Alexis Saelemaekers and Daan Heymans of newly-promoted Venezia.
However, Romelu Lukaku recently departed Italy to join English Premier League giants Chelsea from Inter.
In Belgium, Eleven also shows the domestic Pro League, Spain's LaLiga, Germany's Bundesliga and the English FA Cup.
Viacom18, a joint venture between US media giant Viacom and the Mumbai-based Network 18 Group, replaces domestic broadcasting giant Sony Pictures Networks, which has been the Serie A rights-holder in India since 2015.
The network will have both linear and digital rights in the Indian sub-continent with matches to be made available on its Viacom18 TV channels, Voot streaming service and telecoms company Jio.
It marks Viacom18’s second agreement for a major European league after landing three-year rights to LaLiga last month.
FuboTV replaces OTT platform DAZN, which had held Serie A rights in Canada for the past three seasons.
It will be the exclusive English-language home of the league and show 380 matches annually.
As well as Serie A, FuboTV has acquired exclusive rights to the domestic Coppa Italia knockout cups competition and the Supercoppa for the next three seasons.
It will show a minimum of 41 live matches per season from the Coppa Italia.
FuboTV’s coverage is in partnership with sports marketing agency S&T Sports Group.
The OTT platform has strategically built up a portfolio of soccer content recently and earlier this year acquired the exclusive streaming rights in the US to the South American 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
It also has exclusive streaming rights for the home matches of Mexican Liga MX club Chivas in Canada and streams the French Ligue 1 locally through its content partners.
Infront, which was awarded a three-year contract to distribute Serie A’s international rights in April, has concluded several late deals this month ahead of the start of the new campaign this Saturday.
Just this week, it secured contracts with BeIN Sports in France and 11 territories in Far East Asia and Asia-Pacific, as well as Movistar Plus in Spain.
Earlier this month, Infront also negotiated agreements with BT Sport (UK), DAZN (Germany), Cosmote TV (Greece), Saran Media Group (Turkey, Eastern Europe and the CIS region), Melita (Malta) and Migu (China).
