Italian sports marketing agency Media Partners has outbid German sports marketing agency SportFive for the international TV rights to Serie A matches hosted by AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Juventus starting with the 2007-2008 season.
The new 3-year deal for the international TV rights to the home games of the 3 biggest Italian Serie A teams is a joint-venture between Media Partners and sports agent Ricardo Silva.
Media Partners currently holds international TV rights to home games for Serie A teams Lazio, Cagliari, Lecce, and Treviso through the 2006-2007 season. Media Partners also holds international TV rights to programming produced for the AC Milan Channel. Media Partners has licensed those rights to FOX Sports International in the US and Canada, and to ESPN International in Latin America and Oceania.
SportFive currently holds international TV rights to home games for 16 Serie A teams, including AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Juventus through the 2006-2007 season.
Besides losing the Serie A international TV rights to the 3 biggest Italian teams, SportFive also lost the international TV rights to the German Bundesliga starting with the 2006-2007 season when it was outbid by a joint venture between Austrian online casino Betandwin.com and German sports agent Thomas Krohne.
Sunday’s Carling Cup final between Manchester United and Wigan Athletic will be shown stateside on the satellite Setanta US channel at 10am EST ; Setanta’s new broadband service will carry the match as well.