Bound To Sell Broadcast Rights In The Middle East And North Africa, Serie A Explores Collaboration With YouTube

JAKARTA - Italian Serie A is considering broadcasting a number of matches via YouTube in the Middle East and North Africa. This plan was taken because the top Italian football league was facing a dead end over the sale of broadcasting rights in these two regions.

The Italian league has been trying for months to break the deadlock over the sale of the rights to broadcast Serie A matches over the next three seasons in a market that includes regions such as Egypt, Morocco and the Gulf Arab States.

But Qatari television station beIn has been reluctant to participate in the tender process, while talks with media group Saudi Sports Co over a broadcast deal have yielded no results, the sources said.

As deals with regular television stations were elusive ahead of the start of the season on August 21, the Italian league was then exploring a streaming deal with YouTube to avoid starting the new season without coverage in the region.

A number of preliminary contacts have been made between Serie A and YouTube and it is now up to Serie A to decide what to do to address the issue, the sources said.

They did not elaborate further on the nature of the possible deal with YouTube but said the deal would be more of a solution than a source of revenue. "This will be a backup solution", said one of the sources.

Representatives of Serie A clubs are expected to discuss this option in a teleconference meeting on August 13.

The Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) is the main international TV package that Serie A will still provide ahead of the new season kicking off.

Under the previous three-year cycle, Serie A raised 970 million euros in revenue from the sale of international TV rights licenses.

According to data compiled by Reuters, so far the Italian league has held contracts worth 640 million euros (Rp 10.8 trillion) for the live screening of this league's matches abroad during the period 2021-2024.