Global sports streaming service DAZN will provide coverage of Italian soccer’s top-tier Serie A in several international markets, including the UK and US, as it looks to consolidate rights to the league globally.
As part of its rights package in the UK and Ireland, unveiled today (July 4), DAZN will exclusively stream eight league games per round, with the two remaining matches shown on a non-exclusive basis. Overall, more than 300 matches will be aired.
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Until now, only two matches per round have been aired in the UK and Ireland by Serie A’s other regional partner, TNT Sports, the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned pay-TV broadcaster. The eight remaining fixtures have been available on a pay-per-view basis via international soccer platform OneFootball.
This new deal will ensure all matches are broadcast live, expect for any game scheduled during the UK’s 3pm Saturday blackout window.
Serie A’s other UK and Ireland broadcast partner is TNT Sports, the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned pay-TV broadcaster, which only airs two matches from each round of fixtures. The remaining matches have been available on a pay-per-view basis on international soccer platform OneFootball.
DAZN’s rights US package, meanwhile, has seen it pick up the Spanish-language rights to show ten fixtures per round in the US and Caribbean – five exclusive and five non-exclusive.
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By GlobalDataEnglish-language rights are currently held by US network CBS Sports, as part of a two-season deal that started last year.
The US rights see DAZN double-down on its presence in the region, having recently secured Spanish-language rights for European soccer’s elite UEFA Champions League club competition in the US through a sublicensing agreement with media giant TelevisaUnivision.
The platform also holds the exclusive global rights to the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup which is being staged in the US.
In addition to live coverage of Serie A, DAZN also gains highlights rights covering the league, as well as the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana domestic cup competitions globally except in Italy, San Marino, Vatian City, and the MENA region.
Highlights will become available at least one hour after the final whistle, with two or three-minute packages per match, depending on the territory.
DAZN is already a domestic rights holder of Serie A, along with pay-TV network Sky Italia, in deals running through 2028-29.
DAZN is the primary broadcaster and covers every game live, while Sky Italia covers three games per matchday. Globaldata Sport has estimated the broadcasters pay around $950 million annually for these rights.
Pete Oliver, DAZN’s chief executive of growth markets, said: “Lega Serie A is one of the most storied and technically brilliant leagues in world football.
“Our partnership with the league has continued to grow stronger, particularly since DAZN became the main domestic broadcaster of the Serie A Championship starting with the 2021/22 season.
“This agreement reinforces DAZN’s position as the global home of football – expanding our footprint in Europe and the Americas and giving fans unrivaled access to Italian football as this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup unfolds. From Napoli to Milan, Roma to Juventus – fans want it all, and DAZN is delivering it.”
Serie A has a target, according to reports, of tripling its overseas media rights revenues from the last cycle (2021-24) by 2030. Across those three seasons, the league's total overseas media rights fees reportedly came to €657 million.
One of the last significant rights deals unveiled was a five-year tie-up in Africa with SportyTV, for one game per matchday, disclosed in early September. That deal ensures free-to-air coverage in Nigeria and Ghana, and English and Portuguese-speaking countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Additionally, SportyTV can sublicense these rights to 20 other countries (Angola, Botswana, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, South Africa, St. Helena and Ascension, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).
