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Sports Broadcasting Rights
The negotiations are carried out
taking care, on one hand, to
purchase the rights to use on all the
platforms on which Rai broadcasts,
feeding not only the television
programming (general-interest and
theme-specific), but the radio and
internet programming too, and, on
the other, paying close attention to the
restrictions imposed by the budgets
assigned. On this matter, considerable
savings were made with respect to the
reference budget in 2009.
During 2009, the Sports Broadcasting
Rights unit entered into agreements to
purchase important broadcasting events
linked to the most significant sporting
disciplines. In some cases these were
renewals of agreements to purchase
rights already held by Rai, while in
others they were new purchases, which
marked the return to Rai of important
events such as the men's Serie A
volleyball championship.
In other words, the unit's activity
focused on both the question of longterm
agreements and renewals, and on
the analysis and study of new buying
opportunities, laying the foundations for launching negotiations for the
completion of medium/long-term
agreements.
The aim of the activities illustrated is to
enhance Rai's sports broadcasting
rights portfolio more and more, so that
it is able to continue guaranteeing the
richest free offering on the reference
market, as well as the consequent
broadcasting on the general-interest
networks or free digital theme-specific
channel dedicated to sport, the
potential of which is undoubtedly
interesting in view of the completion of
the switch-off of the analogue
television signal.
Some of the important agreements
which make up Rai's broadcasting rights
portfolio are:
- the agreement with the FIGC for the
broadcasting of the matches played
by the Italian football team;
- the agreement with Lega Calcio
relating to the highlights of the Serie
A and B football championship
matches, useable after 6.00 p.m.;
- the agreement to purchase the Coppa
Italia (Italian Cup) matches played
from the eighth round;
- the contract with the UEFA to
broadcast the Champions League
(one match for every day's play and
the final phases);
- the agreements relating to the
matches organised by the Lega Pro,
5-a-side football, women's football
and other youth events;
- the renewal of the exclusive contract
for the Giro d'Italia and other cycling
events (until 2012);
- the agreement relating to the Tour de
France;
- he purchase of the men's Serie A
volleyball championship for the 2009-
2010 season, as well as the men's
world cup which will be held in Rome
in autumn 2010;
- the long-term agreement relating to
the downhill and cross-country World
Cup Skiing seasons until 2011;
- the agreement for the broadcasting of
the world swimming cup.
Other agreements for the sporting
disciplines include several for the socalled
'minor' sports, which while
lacking relevance in terms of viewing
figures, play an important role in Rai's
mission as a public service broadcaster.
Lastly, in terms of hours of
programming, those dedicated to sport
on the general-interest channels, among
news bulletins, features and commentary
amounted to a total of 1,370. These
broadcasts allowed four sporting events
to be among the six most watched
programmes of the year.