NEW YORK: ESPN announced has won exclusive rights in the USA for its new multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service, ESPN+ to stream more than 340 matches this season of Italy’s Serie A.
Starting this month, ESPN+ will carry an average of nine matches live each week from August through May, while ESPN networks will televise a Serie A Match of the Week — close to 40 matches per season. Most telecasts will air on ESPN and ESPN2, and the Match of the Week will also be available in Spanish on ESPN Deportes. The 20-team Serie A is home to some of global football’s most recognizable and storied clubs, including Juventus FC, AC Milan, AS Roma, FC Inter Milan and more. Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer to Juventus has soared the value of the tournament further.
ESPN’s Serie A coverage will also feature year-round news and highlights content across ESPN platforms. Additionally, ESPN+ will exclusively feature a one-hour season preview and review programs, a weekly preview and highlight shows and a Goals of the Week program.
“We are extremely satisfied with the agreement, which testifies the growing importance and the international recognition of our league,” said Gaetano Miccichè, Serie A president.
“This agreement, together with those recently concluded, shows the value of both Serie A and its champions, which will be appreciated by more than 90 million soccer fans and enthusiasts in the US in the coming years”.
Burke Magnus, executive vice president, Programming and Scheduling, ESPN commented on the deal as well. “The addition of Italy’s Serie A TIM underscores our ambitious goal of making ESPN+ home to the world’s best soccer leagues – and an indispensable destination for fans of the sport in the United States. With Ronaldo’s arrival to Serie A TIM, we anticipate even more interest and exposure for this property in the seasons ahead.”
Hillary Mandel, SVP, North America, IMG Media threw some light on the negotiation process.
“IMG and Serie A are delighted to have ESPN as our media partner in the US. This was an extremely competitive process with multiple networks and platforms interested in the rights. Serie A is a premium global football league which is seeing large investment and ambition from the clubs, resulting in players such as Cristiano Ronaldo joining an already strong list of some of the best footballers in the world. It was important for us to find a broadcaster who understood the vision and passion we share to elevate the profile of Serie A to both existing and new fans of Italian football in the US. In ESPN+ and the ESPN networks we have that exclusive partner.”
