Serie B will kick-off this weekend as scheduled after a TV rights deal was finally agreed with broadcasters. There were fears that the 2006-07 campaign would be delayed again, as several clubs were without pay-per-view contracts, but an emergency meeting called off that threat.SportItalia and Sky Italia were the protagonists of Thursday’s interminable meeting in Milan and in the end agreed to a £28m deal, which will guarantee full coverage of the 470 Second Division matches including the play-off and play-outs.
The row had flared up after satellite broadcaster Sky Italia, Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset corporation and state broadcaster RAI offered very low bids to show Serie B football this season.
Sky will transmit all the matches via satellite, whereas SportItalia will do the same via the terrestrial digital platform – with the exception of Juventus, Genoa and Napoli’s home games. The home games of these three giants have already been sold to Mediaset.
Lega Calcio chief Antonio Matarrese was pleased with the agreement seeing as it doubled last year’s television rights’ revenue. “The negotiation was very long and we did risk a delay in the start of the new term, but we are very satisfied with what was obtained,” said Matarrese.
“Tarek Ben Ammar, SportItalia’s editor, was the man of the day as he allowed us to reach this agreement with him and Sky. This is also a present for Guido Rossi. He has many things to think about and many problems to solve, this issue won’t have to worry him any more. I want to help forget the many disappointments we suffered in these past few months, then I will be free to leave.”
RAI were missing from the negotiating table after they expressed no interest in covering Serie B matches. “They didn’t worry about us, so we will not worry about them,” added Matarrese. “We were told that their budget had ended and I only hope they will do a good job with the Coppa Italia.”
View the list of live games here (in Italy)
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