No plans for Serie A Sky sublicencing deal, says DAZN

Following its historic rights win in Italy, DAZN has reportedly ruled out a Serie A sublicensing deal with Sky.

In comments to Il Sole 24 Ore, DAZN’s chief customer and innovation officer Veronica Diquattro said: “We were competitors until the other night. There are no conversations in progress.”

Sky is currently the primary rights holder of Serie A, with the operator agreeing a deal with DAZN in 2018 giving its customers access to the sports streamer’s three matches per round. 

Diquattro said that this deal was achieved “to reach a type of audience accustomed to a linear approach and therefore essentially to ensure that the product and service were better known.”

DAZN however has locked itself into a deal with TIM, with the operator contributing a significant amount to the overall rights win. An extended agreement between the pair, which will kick in from July, will see DAZN content offered on TIMvision through to 2024.

There are however concerns over rural areas of Italy which cannot currently achieve internet speeds required for streaming. 

Diquattro said that DAZN is “aware that there is an issue” and said that it would explore other options for areas with coverage difficulties. 

She said: “However, in order to serve all our customers, even in areas with some coverage difficulties, we are working to ensure that we have a backup solution specifically for these cases, which will be digital terrestrial (television). In the absence of alternatives, offers of this type will be activated.”