MEDIASET SCORES, TOO
Group on TV football field with RAI, Cecchi Gori
Italy's football association gave the final approval Tuesday, after the three broadcasters agreed on the deal Monday. A preliminary agreement was reached last month by RAI and Cecchi Gori; it was strongly opposed by Mediaset and never finalized by the football association. The new deal includes Berlusconi's TV group.
The football association was a winner, too. Because Mediaset and Cecchi Gori contested the original deal with RAI, the association will be paid $26 million more.
Of the 26 matches in the Italy's Cup competition, 11 will be aired by RAI, 9 by Mediaset and 6 by Cecchi Gori. The other packages of national football matches, including the national championship, will be shared mainly by RAI and Cecchi Gori.
The three broadcasters welcomed the agreement and said they will withdraw all legal motions based on earlier agreements.
The complicated "Guerra del Calcio" (football war), which stirred up millions of Italian viewers and football fans, started last year when Cecchi Gori outbid RAI's three-year offer for all free TV football rights.
For the pubcaster, it was a dramatic and unexpected defeat. But it appeared to reverse the setback when Cecchi Gori, Italy's top film producer and distributor but still a minor player in the TV industry with only two small national nets, was unable to come up with the bank collateral the football association requested, and the rights reverted to RAI. The pubcaster broadcast the games last year, the first year of the three-year pact.
But Cecchi Gori asked a national court for the right to have the rights back this year and next, provided it could pay the rights fee. But once again, the film company found itself unable to meet the bank deadline as the March 20 deadline loomed.
As a result, Cecchi Gori negotiated a deal with RAI to share the acquisition, which was broadened to include Mediaset when the latter protested.
All rights to pay and pay-per-view soccer went to Telepiu the pay-TV operation controlled by Germany's Kirch Group and French pay-TV giant Canal Plus.
