Pay-television broadcaster, Sky Italia, has been hit with a €7m fine after it was found to have committed two violations of the Consumer Code by the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM).
AGCM ruled that Sky Italia had failed to market its rights to Serie A, the top Italian division of football, by implying that its Sky Calcio package continued to showcase all of the division’s games like it had done in the three seasons prior.
In its ruling, AGCM added: “The Authority has also ascertained that Sky has implemented an aggressive practice as it exercised undue influence on customers subscribed to the Sky Calcio package, which, in the face of a significant redefinition of its contents (reduction of 30 per cent of Serie A and cancellation of the whole Serie B tournament) have not been placed in a position to freely take a decision on the maintenance or otherwise of the package.”
Perform, a digital sports content and media group, teamed up with Sky in June to acquire domestic broadcasting rights to the Serie A which has been valued at a total of €973.3m per season across the 2018-19 to 2020-21 campaigns.
As part of the broadcasting deal, Sky acquired two packages: package 5 and package 6. Package 5 included the exclusive rights to three matches per weekend for a total of 114 per season, while package 6 meant that customers could watch four matches per weekend, or 152 per season.
Perform, on the other hand, acquired package 7, which comprised of three matches per day, or 114 per season. These matches have been offered by Perform via its OTT platform, DAZN, which also landed the rights to Serie B in July.
