FILE PHOTO: Inter Milan celebrate with the trophy after winning Serie A at the San Siro, Milan, Italy, May 23, 2021 REUTERS/Massimo Pinca/File Photo
MILAN: Serie A's clubs agreed on Friday to launch their own Arabic-language channel on YouTube to live-stream some matches in the Middle East and North Africa as Italy's top-flight soccer league faces a stalemate over the sale of TV rights in the region.
Serie A, home to Juventus, AC Milan and Inter, has been trying for months to break a deadlock over the sale of rights to screen its matches over the next three seasons across a market which includes territories such as Egypt, Morocco and the Gulf States.
The league "has decided to proceed with the creation of an Arabic-language channel on the YouTube platform," Serie A said in a statement, following a teleconferenced meeting, confirming what sources told Reuters earlier on Friday.
SHORTFALL
The planned back-up deal with Google-owned video platform YouTube, which is not expected to generate a sizeable income, could last up to one year and will be suspended if the league clinches a deal to sell its pay-TV licenses in the region, the people said.
Under the previous three-year cycle, Serie A collected 970 million euros ($1.14 billion) in adjusted revenue from the sale of international TV rights licenses. So far the Italian league has secured contracts worth around 640 million for screening live matches abroad during the 2021-2024 period.
The risk of a revenue shortfall stemming from the stalemate in the Middle East market comes at a time when many clubs are in demand of fresh resources to cope with the fallout of the pandemic.
That could prompt Serie A to consider a revival of talks to sell a stake in its media business to private equity investors, the sources said.
Last year, Serie A agreed in principle a 1.7 billion euro deal to sell a 10% stake of its media business to a pool of investors including private equity firm CVC but the sale was not finalised due to opposition from some clubs, including Juventus .
Meanwhile CVC clinched a similar deal with Spain's top soccer League La Liga.
"It was not a matter of discussion today, but I definitely expect some clubs will push to reconsider a deal with private equity investors in September," a club official who participated in Serie A's Friday meeting, but did not wish to be identified, told Reuters.
($1 = 0.8512 euros) (Reporting by Elvira Pollina, editing by Agnieszka Flak and Susan Fenton)
