Football

International TV rights, the cartel bill: Serie A towards maxi compensation

From Img comes the official settlement proposal of 300 million to close the civil case for antitrust irregularities established for the period 2008-2018

by Marco Bellinazzo

22 April 2026

L'esultanza di Adrien Rabiot dell'AC Milan dopo il gol dello 0-1 nel finale della partita di Serie A tra Hellas Verona e AC Milan allo Stadio Bentegodi di Verona, nel nord-ovest dell'Italia - domenica 19 aprile 2026. Sport - Calcio. (Foto di Paola Garbuio/Lapresse) LAPRESSE

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

In the night between Monday and Tuesday, the Serie A clubs were delivered the official settlement proposal for an amount of 300 million by Img, one of the three intermediaries (the others are MP & Silva and B4), who formed an anti-competitive cartel between 2008 and 2018, holding back the income from the international television rights of the top football league, as ascertained by a proceeding initiated in 2017 by the Competition and Market Authority.

The Court of Milan, at which the hearing in the civil case arising from the antitrust proceedings was held yesterday morning, took note of the ongoing negotiations that could lead to the settlement of the dispute with Img, while waiting to see whether the other two intermediaries (which have since gone into liquidation) will also choose the same path.

The restrictive agreement by the three operators, who coordinated their respective conducts in the tenders for the allocation of foreign rights to Serie A and the Coppa Italia in advance, defining the subsequent allocation of the packages, emerged above all thanks to the self-disclosure of the US sports rights giant Img, which chose to cooperate with the Italian Antitrust Authority in order to expose itself to a reduced fine (EUR 300,000).

Penalties of around EUR 67 million were triggered in 2019 (for MP Silva a fine of EUR 63.6 million, while B4 Capital will have to pay a fine of EUR 3.1 million), a measure confirmed - in substance - by the Lazio Regional Administrative Court and the Council of State.

Agcom, moreover, found that this illicit conduct had caused a decrease in the value of international rights, damaging the Lega Serie A and the clubs benefiting from the revenues. In a nutshell, according to the Antitrust Authority, while in the other major European leagues the value of international rights was increasing, Serie A was stuck in an anomalous dynamic, also due to prices artificially kept below fair value.

In fact, the Premier league, which in the 2009/10 season grossed around 330 million euro from foreign TV, this year gets 2,560 million, the Spanish La Liga in the same timeframe rose from 160 to 835 million, and the Serie A from 90 to 242 million.

Structural damage for Italia football

This structural damage is all the more serious considering that audiovisual rights are still the main source of revenue for professional football in Italy.

This is why, even before the antitrust procedure was closed, several clubs turned to the Court of Milan - among the first to do so were Fiorentina, Torino, Roma, Palermo, Chievo, Empoli, Pescara and Perugia, assisted by BonelliErede, with partners Francesco Anglani and Vittorio Allavena - in an action that then included the League itself and almost 30 clubs (those that played in Serie A between 2008 and 2018). The lawsuit seeking damages had a total petitum of over three billion euros, the highest for a civil antitrust lawsuit.

A partial ruling recognised the merits of the companies' claims, overcoming the main procedural exceptions of the intermediaries and entrusting two economists with the quantification of damages.

The court-appointed technical consultancy filed a few months ago - after a 180-million-euro settlement agreement was not reached last year - accurately reconstructing the performance of Serie A's foreign rights in comparison with the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1, estimated an overall loss for Italian teams close to one billion euros.

Following the technical expertise, the search for an agreement between the parties was accelerated and from Img, as mentioned yesterday, the offer of 300 million arrived. This is about a third of the potential compensation that the damaged clubs could obtain, but in the evaluation of the congruity of the sum, one must take into account the time factor (with respect to the imminent financial deadlines of the clubs), the length of an appeal procedure on the merits, and the burdens consequent to the execution of a sentence abroad against a large US company, as well as the state of liquidation in which the other two intermediaries find themselves.

In the next few days, all parties involved must in any case sign a specific settlement with Img for an amount calculated on the basis of the years of permanence in the A league and the distribution parameters established for the distribution of television revenues at the time of the events, when the Melandri law came into force, which reintroduced collective sales in place of the subjective one that had been in force until then.