beIn Sports has the exclusive broadcasting rights of Serie A in 35 territories which includes France, Australia and the Middle East and North African (Mena) region as part of a three-year deal worth $500 million. The deal is valid up to the 2020-21 season.
Serie A has also signed an $8.3 million contract to host three Supercoppa Italiana cup final matches in Saudi Arabia, despite the country’s links to the pirate broadcaster BeoutQ.
The deal which was signed by Serie A in June 2018, promised to take three out of the next five Supercoppa Italiana finals to Saudi Arabia. The first of those was Juventus’ 1-0 victory over AC Milan in January 2019, at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.
Strangely, beIN Sports opted not to broadcast Torino and Parma’s 1-1 draw during the restart of the 2019/20 Serie A season.
According to a report by InsideSport, beIN Sports blacked out Serie A in 35 territories in an apparent protest against the Italian top-flight soccer body’s ties with Saudi Arabia.
In November last year, beIN Sports said that Serie A’s leadership was jeopardising its broadcast partnerships and revenues by taking matches to Saudi Arabia. Serie A’s chief executive Luigi De Siervo said at the time that the soccer body ‘could not fail to honour’ its agreement with Saudi Arabia’s General Sports Authority (GSA).
A company statement read: “No Serie A matches are being broadcast on beIN Sports’ entire global network. It would not be appropriate to comment further, other than to say our legal and public position has been consistent and well-documented for three years.”
There has been a cold war going on between Serie A and beIN Sports. But, if you’re from the Indian subcontinent then you won’t face any problem as Sony Sports Network is the exclusive broadcaster here.
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