The decision of the Ministry of Business: included in the semi-finals and finals list of the Slams and Masters 1000 with Italian athletes involved. But the obligation to broadcast free will not be triggered until the current broadcaster contracts expire
Sinner and his brothers made tennis a popular sport. The result? The number of racket sports events to be broadcast free-to-air on TV in our country is expanding. The new list, on which the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy has been working for months, has been published in the Official Journal. We were waiting for the approval of the Contact Committee of the European Commission and that approval has finally arrived. The new list includes the semi-finals and finals of the Slam tournaments, the ATP and WTA Finals, the Masters 1000 and the WTA 1000, clearly in the case of the presence of Italian athletes. Warning: the obligation to broadcast free will not be triggered until the current broadcaster contracts expire.
the stages
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In the past it was Agcom, i.e. the Communications Authority, which was responsible for drawing up and updating the list of events “of particular relevance for society whose broadcast on free-to-air programming is ensured”. The last resolution dates back to 2012 and, for tennis, included only the finals and semi-finals of the Davis Cup, Fed Cup (now Billie Jean King Cup) and Internazionali d’Italia with the presence of Italian players. In the meantime, based on the new Tusma (Consolidated law on audiovisual media services), the competence in the matter has been transferred to the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy and the role of Agcom has become consultative. The ministry led by Adolfo Urso had launched public consultation with sector operators in March 2023 to update the list of events. Having received all the indications, he had drawn up the list which initially included a greater number of events (there were, for example, 500 tournaments). Agcom had expressed its positive opinion. Thus began long and complex discussions with the community body, until the final list was drawn up, published a few days ago in the Official Journal.
the details
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These are the tennis events to be shown clearly. Confirmed: the finals and semi-finals of the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly Fed Cup) in which the Italian national team will participate; the semi-finals and finals of the Italian tennis internationals where Italian athletes are present. New: the semi-finals and final of the United Cup in which the Italian national team participates; the semi-finals and finals of the Grand Slam tournaments where Italian athletes are present; the semi-finals and finals of the ATP and WTA Finals, of the ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 where Italian athletes are present. In the case of these new events on the list, the decree specifies that, if the rights were acquired before publication in the Official Journal, “the effectiveness of the provisions starts from the expiry of the existing contracts”. It should be remembered that Sky has signed an agreement with ATP and WTA until 2028 for the circuit’s tournaments and has renewed with Wimbledon until 2030, while Discovery/Eurosport has a partnership with Roland Garros until 2030 and with the Australian Open until 2031. The US Open is already free-to-air on SuperTennis. Only upon expiration of these contracts will the obligation of free-to-air transmission be triggered. The licensees of the rights, however, can decide whether to broadcast such events on their free channels (Tv8 for Sky, Nove for Discovery), or to sublicense them to other broadcasters.
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