DAZN continues to make waves in the Sports Media industry, adding more high-profile football content in Italy with the addition of rights to the UEFA Europa League and the fresh third-tier Europa Conference League. The contract will run for the next three seasons, from 2021-22 to 2023-24, extending DAZN’s acquisition of the bulk of the independent live rights to Serie A, paying €2.5 billion for the same cycle.
DAZN has also declared that it will broadcast all Europa League matches from the group stage onwards, along with the “best of” the Europa Conference League. However, the rights are not exclusive as Sky Italia had already secured rights to the two competitions across the 2021-24 cycle.
DAZN is tripling its subscription price in Italy after adding heavyweight rights to its selection. Other football rights held by the broadcaster in Italy include the FA Cup, Carabao Cup, Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana, and Major League Soccer.
The monthly subscription price will rise from €9.99 ($11.84) to €29.99 from July 1 onwards. However, current customers will be offered the service at €19.99 per month for a year (from September 1 onwards and with two free months offered). New customers who sign up by July 28 will be able to pay €19.99 per month for the next 14 months before the price reverts to €29.99 per month. During the initial sales process run by the Team Marketing agency, Sky Italia acquired exclusive linear rights and non-exclusive digital rights to the Europa League and Europa Conference League.
During the 2021-24 Champions League rights sales process in Italy, Mediaset and online giant Amazon were awarded the rights to the first-pick Tuesday and Wednesday matches, respectively. Sky acquired rights to the remaining 104 games per season and the UEFA Youth League. During the 2017 auction, Sky Italia was awarded the exclusive Champions League and Europa League rights from 2018-19 to 2020-21, paying just over €300m per season.