[grabbi]

http://goal.com/en/news/10/italy/200...fixture-report

So, the TV Rights are up. Its been debated for some time whether Italian Football has a place here in the UK, looking back at the successful Football Italia days on Channel 4.

Given the current fixtures for TV are scattered around early, mid and evening Saturday and Sunday kick offs, the FIGC and Serie A itself are contemplating putting on a Monday evening game, much like the Premier League does right now.

Reckon itd be nice to have a game on a Monday evening, back on C4, or Five (if they decide to have them after the rife of the 2007/8 season) or Freeview.

Bravo have shown it before, as have Eurosport, and I for one miss Italian football on British TV, and I think La Liga and Bundesliga coverage in the UK has helped the leagues showcase to get better here.

With Setanta falling, could it be a comeback for Italy?

[hard_to_beat]

I think this is refering to rights actually sold in Italy itself rather than international rights.

[Jack1]

Originally Posted by grabbi

http://goal.com/en/news/10/italy/200...fixture-report

So, the TV Rights are up. Its been debated for some time whether Italian Football has a place here in the UK, looking back at the successful Football Italia days on Channel 4.

Given the current fixtures for TV are scattered around early, mid and evening Saturday and Sunday kick offs, the FIGC and Serie A itself are contemplating putting on a Monday evening game, much like the Premier League does right now.

Reckon itd be nice to have a game on a Monday evening, back on C4, or Five (if they decide to have them after the rife of the 2007/8 season) or Freeview.

Bravo have shown it before, as have Eurosport, and I for one miss Italian football on British TV, and I think La Liga and Bundesliga coverage in the UK has helped the leagues showcase to get better here.

With Setanta falling, could it be a comeback for Italy?

It would be good to see Serie A on TV again, i can't see that many buyers apart from maybe Bravo or five, but putting it on fiver. Who will get the rights Sky Italia or someone else?

[grabbi]

Originally Posted by hard_to_beat

I think this is refering to rights actually sold in Italy itself rather than international rights.

All rights are sold at the same time, much like the Premier League.

Usually during the local bidding in the Nation, the International rights come up and are sold, but not to as much fan-fare as the local rights.

Originally Posted by Jack1

It would be good to see Serie A on TV again, i can't see that many buyers apart from maybe Bravo or five, but putting it on fiver. Who will get the rights Sky Italia or someone else?

Sky Italia, more than likely. Given they have a lot of clout (much like Sky over here, and Fox over in the USA) and a lot of financial backing also, they will probably go for it all.

And given there is no law limiting the packages, like the Premier League has here (Sky can only have up to 5 out of 6 of the packages.)

[man utd 09]

I heard these tv right are complicated and saw on another forum Napoli had a bit of controversy over there matches

[man utd 09]

I heard these tv right are complicated and saw on another forum Napoli had a bit of controversy over there matches as well. Maybe ESPN may get them as schedule fillers if they split ESPN UK and ESPN America sometime.

[wolvesdavid]

I used to love Italian football on channel 4.

Bit since the various scandals there in recent years, its put me off watching it. I am not certain that any broadcaster here would be too bothered with it because of that reason.

[The Wanderer]

Originally Posted by man utd 09

I heard these tv right are complicated and saw on another forum Napoli had a bit of controversy over there matches as well. Maybe ESPN may get them as schedule fillers if they split ESPN UK and ESPN America sometime.

That was the case but Serie A have now broken away from the rest of the Italian league and I think will now sell rights on a collective basis. If ESPN eventually go with two channels and the price is right, they may go for it. I don't think Channel 5 will because of the advertising downturn, and it wasn't a cash cow in 07/08

In Italy, SKY will pick up everything, but probably Mediaset will pick up Pay-DTT rights like they have done for the UEFA competitions for the next few years

[Jack1]

Originally Posted by The Wanderer

That was the case but Serie A have now broken away from the rest of the Italian league and I think will now sell rights on a collective basis. If ESPN eventually go with two channels and the price is right, they may go for it. I don't think Channel 5 will because of the advertising downturn, and it wasn't a cash cow in 07/08

In Italy, SKY will pick up everything, but probably Mediaset will pick up Pay-DTT rights like they have done for the UEFA competitions for the next few years

Originally Posted by grabbi

Sky Italia, more than likely. Given they have a lot of clout (much like Sky over here, and Fox over in the USA) and a lot of financial backing also, they will probably go for it all.

And given there is no law limiting the packages, like the Premier League has here (Sky can only have up to 5 out of 6 of the packages.)

Cheers for the info guys

[grabbi]

Originally Posted by wolvesdavid

I used to love Italian football on channel 4.

Bit since the various scandals there in recent years, its put me off watching it. I am not certain that any broadcaster here would be too bothered with it because of that reason.

The scandals are a thing of the past, and the punishments were set in stone, to which each team saw it out, and took the punishment on the chin.

Given Im a Juve fan, when it comes to Italian football, I understood the allegations and the punishments to the letter, and personally saw them as unjustified.

Yes, the people who ran the four clubs that were convicted fled, and the clubs took the punishment. Juve in particular. The director was convicted, as far as I remember, and the punishment was set and carried out on Juventus, and its players, no matter how humiliating.

Either way, its all in the past. Its done, gone, dusted. Once 2008 came around, Juve were back and the whole Calcioploi was done. Now its time to enjoy the football once again.

Personally, I could see a terrestrial (if that still exists) channel going for it, although the new ESPN thing makes sense, as a filler, possibly getting people back into Serie A as entertaining football.

Theres a reason its been branded one of the 4 best leagues in the world, and itd be a shame if we werent going to get to see it.

Juve, Inter, AC, Roma, Fiore... hell, even Genoa recently... Played some fantastic football last season, and in the Champions League, it was particularly good to see Juve wipe the floor with Real Madrid.

If people saw that, maybe it would open their minds to watching why Serie A could still be the second best league in the world.

[hard_to_beat]

Originally Posted by grabbi

The scandals are a thing of the past, and the punishments were set in stone, to which each team saw it out, and took the punishment on the chin.

Given Im a Juve fan, when it comes to Italian football, I understood the allegations and the punishments to the letter, and personally saw them as unjustified.

Yes, the people who ran the four clubs that were convicted fled, and the clubs took the punishment. Juve in particular. The director was convicted, as far as I remember, and the punishment was set and carried out on Juventus, and its players, no matter how humiliating.

Either way, its all in the past. Its done, gone, dusted. Once 2008 came around, Juve were back and the whole Calcioploi was done. Now its time to enjoy the football once again.

Personally, I could see a terrestrial (if that still exists) channel going for it, although the new ESPN thing makes sense, as a filler, possibly getting people back into Serie A as entertaining football.

Theres a reason its been branded one of the 4 best leagues in the world, and itd be a shame if we werent going to get to see it.

Juve, Inter, AC, Roma, Fiore... hell, even Genoa recently... Played some fantastic football last season, and in the Champions League, it was particularly good to see Juve wipe the floor with Real Madrid.

If people saw that, maybe it would open their minds to watching why Serie A could still be the second best league in the world.

FIGC and the clubs still haven't been able to get a grasp on the hooliganism still present with the Ultras culture, particularly behaviour within the 'curva' area of stadiums. This is the central reason for why Italy's bid to host Euro 2012 failed, and until that is sorted attendences will still be very poor.

[packerbully]

Originally Posted by hard_to_beat

FIGC and the clubs still haven't been able to get a grasp on the hooliganism still present with the Ultras culture, particularly behaviour within the 'curva' area of stadiums. This is the central reason for why Italy's bid to host Euro 2012 failed, and until that is sorted attendences will still be very poor.

I went to a game in Italy a couple of years ago (with my Italian cousin) and whilst I enjoyed the experience, there were issues:

1. Stadium was awful - huge and open (most are like this);
2. This resulted in a lack of 'atmosphere' that we get in the UK;
3. 1/2 empty stadium did not help;

I did not see any real hooliganism, although the atmosphere was more tense and less organised.

Overall I enjoyed it, although the pace of the game was much slower - could not go to games regularly there. My cousin wishes they would rebuild the stadiums so that the atmosphere could be matched.

[GeoffNI]

Well if you can't miss Italian Football omnisport.tv are going to provide a 9.99$ a month subscription service. Don't let the $ put you off as they are based in England. They have rights and show the league in 16:9 HQ streams with English Commentary.

I doubt though any tv channel will pick it up. As far as I know we won't even get the Bundesliga next season and to be fair I think the Serie A is slightly over-rated. Its not the La Liga and it was not as unpredictable last year as the Bundesliga.

Never the less for a nation suppose to be crazy about football it is shame that the worlds elite leagues don't make it on screen over here.

[derek500]

Originally Posted by grabbi

Bravo have shown it before, as have Eurosport, and I for one miss Italian football on British TV, and I think La Liga and Bundesliga coverage in the UK has helped the leagues showcase to get better here.

BSB then Sky Sports used to have a Monday evening Seria A show hosted by John Inverdale.

[Jack1]

Originally Posted by GeoffNI

Well if you can't miss Italian Football omnisport.tv are going to provide a 9.99$ a month subscription service. Don't let the $ put you off as they are based in England. They have rights and show the league in 16:9 HQ streams with English Commentary.

I doubt though any tv channel will pick it up. As far as I know we won't even get the Bundesliga next season and to be fair I think the Serie A is slightly over-rated. Its not the La Liga and it was not as unpredictable last year as the Bundesliga.

Never the less for a nation suppose to be crazy about football it is shame that the worlds elite leagues don't make it on screen over here.

It is a shame but £7 month is too much for me in terms of value for money

[agm2002]

It'd be good if the BBC got it and put it on BBC Three and BBC HD.

[Jack1]

Originally Posted by agm2002

It'd be good if the BBC got it and put it on BBC Three and BBC HD.

I would be gobsmacked if that happened

[grabbi]

http://www.Bet365.co.uk show Serie A matches in streaming with Commentary for Betting purposes, because Serie A doesnt have a TV deal.

And that is free. Its an embedded player, though.

FIGC and the clubs still haven't been able to get a grasp on the hooliganism still present with the Ultras culture, particularly behaviour within the 'curva' area of stadiums. This is the central reason for why Italy's bid to host Euro 2012 failed, and until that is sorted attendences will still be very poor.

I agree. They have never taken the measures that the English took to prevent hooliganism, and the Ultras still run the club, in a sense, however, this doesnt really affect the TV Rights. Although I remember during Five's coverage, a couple of games being called off (One Juventus, One Fiorentina, I believe) because of a fan being killed in each. On one of these, they showed an alterntive game. On the other, they showed a film.

Laura Esposto... thats all Im saying...

[Jack1]

Originally Posted by grabbi

http://www.Bet365.co.uk show Serie A matches in streaming with Commentary for Betting purposes, because Serie A doesnt have a TV deal.

And that is free. Its an embedded player, though.

Cheers for the info i'll give that a try

[Ragnarok]

The Liga Calcio rights are simple not worth much on the UK market. conflicts with Sky's EPL and la Liga coverage put sky off paying much. Even the BBC where able to pick up a live game last season. It wasn't making Five Enough money.

The Late Sunday game might be enticing for ESPN.

[hard_to_beat]

Originally Posted by agm2002

It'd be good if the BBC got it and put it on BBC Three and BBC HD.

Originally Posted by Jack1

I would be gobsmacked if that happened

I don't see why a BBC deal would absolutely out of the question if the price is right. As has been pointed out, the betting stream mean the price for the rights has gone down due to loss of exclusivity, maybe low enough for the BBC.

However, I think it's fair to say that it wouldn't be the week-in week-out coverage most are after, and any deal would BBC would only happen if English players were playing, ie Beckham at Milan, rumours of Crouch going to Milan.

[grabbi]

They showed Beckhams first Milan Game, didnt they? I thought that would lead to Serie A coverage, but it was just the one game.

[ariusuk]

Originally Posted by hard_to_beat

I don't see why a BBC deal would absolutely out of the question if the price is right. As has been pointed out, the betting stream mean the price for the rights has gone down due to loss of exclusivity, maybe low enough for the BBC.

No, the betting stream means the "value" of the rights has fallen. The price hasn't.

Channel 4 could no longer make Serie A profitable in 2002. That's why they dropped it.

ITV2 couldn't make it profitable
Bravo couldn't make it profitable
Five couldn't make it profitable
British Eurosport couldn't make it profitable
Setanta couldn't make it profitable.

That says something about the rights, their cost and value.

[hard_to_beat]

Yeah, I did mean value but couldn't think of the word at the time

Well exactly, also it should be remembered that up to now the rights for some time have been sold individually by the clubs. That would have made it even worse.

[singhss1]

Was it me or did I hear James Richardson doing Tour The France commentary on Eurosport. If so, maybe he will be back on our screens with Italian football on Eurosport!