A Milan judge has cancelled a tender by Spain's Mediapro for TV broadcasting rights of Italy's Serie A soccer matches, ruling in favour of a legal challenge by Sky's Italian unit, a source said.
esterday's decision, filed after a hearing last Friday, said the tender breached antitrust rules, the judicial source said. Mediapro now has 15 days to appeal the decision. The multimedia communications group was not immediately available for comment.
The tender had already been suspended in mid-April after Sky Italia had requested the court to verify whether the sale respected Italian regulation.
In February, Italy's Serie A soccer league had accepted Mediapro's offer for the rights to broadcast the almost 400 matches of the 2018-2021 seasons at just above €1.05bn.
Sky Italia welcomed the decision saying it "made clarity to the benefit of all participants... setting out the requirements for the procedure".
It added in a statement that it was ready to make an offer for the TV soccer rights. Pictured above is Bologna's Rodrigo Palacio tackling Juventus' Paulo Dybala during a recent Serie A match.