Mumbai: Viacom18 on Friday announced that it has acquired the broadcast and digital rights for Italian Serie A for the Indian sub-continent region for the next three seasons. The latest edition of Italian Serie A will kick off on 21 August at 10 p.m. The matches will be aired on Viacom18’s TV channels, Voot and Jio.
Viacom18 has entered into a partnership with Infront, whom Italian Serie A has appointed to manage its international media rights for all platforms across Europe, Asia, Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa, and Americas (excluding USA).
“We are delighted to host the Italian Serie A across our network. The league enjoys great affinity with football lovers in India. Some of the world’s top clubs, coaches and players make the Serie A stand out as one of the best leagues in the football world. We are confident of growing the fan base through a slew of initiatives that are lined up,” said Viacom18 Digital Ventures, head – SVOD and international business, Ferzad Palia.
The media company 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).
“One of the core propositions of our network is the promise of variety in content. Sports 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 and competitive leagues in Europe and we are excited to bring it to our viewers across digital and broadcast platforms,” said Viacom18 Digital Ventures, chief operating officer, Gourav Rakshit.
A total of 20 teams will be taking part in the Italian Serie A. While 17 teams will be from the previous season, the three new teams promoted from Serie B. Crotone, Benevento and Parma were consigned to the 2021–22 Serie B. The top four teams from the league will qualify for the group stages of the Champions League, while the fifth-ranked team will qualify for the Europa League group stage.
“This is the start of what we hope will be a positive relationship between Infront and Viacom18. Serie A already has a significant resonance with Indian football fans and this will help us further grow the audience in the country. We believe this is the beginning of what we hope will be a promising future,” said Infront, vice president media sales and operations, Amikam Kranz.