MUMBAI: Sports rights aggregation is going ahead full steam at Reliance Industries Ltd’s media-facing entities. Viacom18 Friday announced that it has acquired the broadcast and digital rights for Italian Serie A for the Indian subcontinent for the next three seasons.
The announcement comes a little over a month after the RIL-controlled network scored a three-season broadcast rights deal for Spain’s LaLiga and a day after the Asian Football Confederation announced Football Sports Development Limited (also Reliance-controlled) as their new media partner in the Indian subcontinent.
For the record, SportzPower had reached out to Viacom18 on Wednesday to enquire whether the network had acquired the Serie A rights but was offered no comment.
This website had been informed last week that Infront, international media rights holder for Italy’s top tier football league, had closed the rights deal for the Indian market. Infront manages Serie A’s international media rights for all platforms across Europe, Asia, Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa and Americas (excluding. USA).
The latest edition of Serie A will kick off on Saturday, 21st August at 10 PM IST. Matches will be available live across Voot, Viacom18’s TV channels (MTV?) and Jio.
Gourav Rakshit, chief operating officer, Viacom18 Digital Ventures, said: “One of the core propositions of our network is the promise of variety in content. Sports is a white space that we have been consciously experimenting with for some time now. The response to our initiatives, thus far, has been very encouraging. Italian Serie A is one of the most exciting & competitive leagues in Europe and we are excited to bring it to our viewers across digital and broadcast platforms.”
Further elaborating, Ferzad Palia, head – SVOD and International Business, Viacom18 Digital Ventures, said: “We are delighted to host the Italian Serie A across our network. The league enjoys great affinity with football lovers in India. Some of the world’s top clubs, coaches and players make the Serie A stand out as one of the best leagues in the football world. We are confident of growing the fan base through a slew of initiatives that are lined up.”
Viacom18 has been steadily expanding its sports offerings with the network also recently entering a multi-year partnership with Abu Dhabi T10 League cricket.
Amikam Kranz, vice president Media Sales and Operations, Infront, said: “This is the start of what we hope will be a positive relationship between Infront and Viacom18. Serie A already has a significant resonance with Indian football fans and this will help us further grow the audience in the country. We believe this is the beginning of what we hope will be a promising future.”
A total of 20 teams will be taking part in the Italian Serie A, which will start from 10 pm, Saturday, 21st August. While 17 teams will be from the previous season, the three new teams promoted from Serie B. Crotone, Benevento and Parma were consigned to the 2021–22 Serie B.
Related Reports
LaLiga scores rights deal with Viacom18; games be t’cast on MTV
AFC agrees media rights deal with FSDL for Indian subcontinent
