Viacom18 gets digital, TV rights of Italian Professional Football League for Indian subcontinent

Entertainment-focused broadcaster Viacom18 has bagged TV and digital rights of the Italian Professional Football League for the Indian sub-continent region for the next three seasons.

The latest edition of Italian Serie A, which will kick off on August 21, will be available live across Voot, Viacom18’s TV channels, and Jio, a statement said.

Italian Professional Football League, known as Lega Serie A, is the top football league in Italy and one of the most famous football leagues in the world.

Italian Serie A has been voted as the World’s Best Nation League in 2020 by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, the statement said.

”Sport is a whitespace that we have been consciously experimenting with for some time now. The response to our initiatives, thus far, has been very encouraging. Italian Serie A is one of the most exciting & competitive leagues in Europe and we are excited to bring it to our viewers across digital and broadcast platforms,” Viacom18 Digital Ventures Chief Operating Officer Gourav Rakshit said.

Viacom18 has entered into a partnership with Infront, which Italian Serie A has appointed to manage its international media rights for all platforms across Europe, Asia, Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas (excluding the US).

The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Viacom18 has been steadily expanding its sports offerings with the network recently entering multi-year partnerships for Spanish La Liga (football) and Abu Dhabi T10 League (cricket).