Serie A: TimVision exclusive end, DAZN returns to Sky from 8 August

One is coming new, small revolution in Italian football or, better, in the way in which the Serie A championship can be followed on TV. TIM has in fact announced that it has achieved a agreement with DAZN which provides for the possibility for the latter to distribute the rights to watch the matches “through any third party“. In other words, ends the exclusive on TimVision (which in June had announced the new offer for the 2022-23 season), and DAZN will be free to agree with other partners. Reference goes to Sky, for a grand return of the top flight to Comcast’s satellite / digital platform. The integration between the two platforms will become effective on 8 August.

A SERIES AND SKY-DAZN INTEGRATION, THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

The renegotiation of the agreements had been in the air for some time:

The contract will improve the options available to TIM customers, who will continue to watch the games through TimVision […] and will also offer the possibility of viewing DAZN’s contents on digital terrestrial. […] Thanks to the new contractual structure, the objective of distributing the rights on a plurality of platforms is achieved with a view to creating a more sustainable economic model subject to less volatility. […]. TIM has informed the Antitrust Authority that the new agreement has been reached.

TimVision’s loss of exclusivity will result in a “discount” which, according to well-informed rumors, could be around 90-100 million euros (from the total 340 million of the initial exclusive contract). And these 100 million missing should come precisely from Sky, strongly interested in recovering that part of customers lost last year: the agreement for the landing of DAZN on Sky Q and on the channels of the platform is not yet official, but times are very tight (the championship starts in just 9 days) and the official press release is expected for the next few hours.

These are the words of Stefano Azzi, CEO of DAZN Italia:

Tim has been a strategic partner from a technological and distribution point of view since our arrival in Italy and will continue to be so. […] We remain focused so that our core business develops in an increasingly structured way. And the modification of the agreement goes exactly in this direction: to allow the further expansion of access methods for users and to continue to pursue our ambition to offer live and on-demand sports content to an ever-increasing number of fans in a simple way, flexible and innovative.

Pietro Labriola, CEO of TIM, added:

Thanks to this agreement, the costs of football content can be borne by multiple platforms and a more economically sustainable system will be achieved. Tim customers will be able to continue to follow the league matches through TimVision, the richest streaming platform on the Italian market and which offers the possibility of viewing Dazn content also on digital terrestrial.

Now that DAZN and TIM have found the agreement, we need to take the next step: agree with Sky. Once the final ok has been obtained, the offer will be officially formulated and will presumably include:

• vision of DAZN on Sky Q
• viewing of multiple DAZN channels on Sky

In both cases two separate season tickets are assumed to be necessary, one for Sky, one for DAZN.

We are still in the field of hypotheses, but the only data we currently have available are those of the costs of the two distinct subscriptions:

• DAZN: 29.99 euros per month for the standard subscription, 39.99 euros per month for the Plus, which provides the possibility of using your account simultaneously on two devices not connected to the same network
• Sky:
  • Football: 19.90 euros per month (with Sky TV included)
  • Sport: € 30.90 per month (with Sky TV, Champions League, Europa League, Conference League and all sports included)
  • Sport + Football: € 35.90 per month
  • Sports on NOW: € 14.99 per month

Adding DAZN with Sky, therefore, to see the Serie A 2022-23 you would pay a starting amount of 49.89 euros per month (DAZN Standard + Sky Calcio). It is by no means excluded the possibility that discounted packages are offered that include both offers. We look forward to news.

Sky and DAZN have begun to reveal some more concrete details on how the new integration will work. Everything will start on August 8th:, since that day, in fact,

• The DAZN app will be available on Sky Q.
• It will activate on channel 214 ZONA DAZNwhich will show the seven DAZN exclusive Serie A matches per round and a selection of other events.

The economic question still remains to be understood. From how the press release is worded, we understand that it will be necessary pay both subscriptions at full price to use the DAZN app on Sky Q, while for the ZONA DAZN channel a “specific commercial offer” is mentioned which, apparently, it will be an optional cost to add to regular, Standard or Plus subscriptions. At the moment we don’t know how much it will cost.

For Sky customers who do not subscribe to DAZN, there is basically a dedicated site where it will be possible to subscribe to DAZN Standard or Plus and possibly add the DAZN ZONE option.