THIS THREAD IS NOW A STICKY, AS PROMISED (MEZZ - 18/06/2008)

In recent years, I've spent loads of time in the summer trawling the net for news of the destination of Serie A TV rights for the UK. Does anyone know whether Five is carrying Serie A next year as well? If not, is there any other deal in the offing?

My own preference would now be for Setanta or Eurosport to pick up the rights. This season has shown that a terrestrial channel is simply unable to show the big games live, because they won't disturb their Sunday night schedules for calcio.

It would make sense for Setanta to get the rights back - they have James Richardson on their books, and they need a flagship European league to rival Sky's La Liga coverage. Italy would fit the bill better than the Bundesliga or Championnat. So, fingers crossed.

The way that Five's coverage has been going (only 15 minutes of build up on a Sunday rather than 30-60, and no highlights show now), I can't see them carrying on past this season.

What with Eurosport and Setanta having all ready covered (and dropped) Serie A within the last few years, I'm not sure they would be too interested in picking up Italian football again anytime soon as the factors which led them to drop their coverage first time around haven't really changed.

What we really need to happen is for Jose Mourinho to take over at either of the Milan clubs, or even Juve, and to get Lampard and/or Terry over there playing. If Sky have one or two big name English players abroad to follow, they'll surely be interested in providing coverage. The exposure that La Liga received from Sky when Owen, Woodgate and eventually Beckham went out there increased notably, and I suspect that only a repeat of this on the peninsula would tempt Sky in to covering Serie A.

From my own experience, a lot of UK football fans still see Serie A as being riddled with corruption and, generally, not a very entertaining league to watch so we may be without live calcio for a while again after this season ends.
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ACF FIORENTINA : FORZA LA VIOLA

Sky, the scourge of the match-going football fan.

Mezz wrote:

The exposure that La Liga received from Sky when Owen, Woodgate and eventually Beckham went out there increased notably.

Agreed, although I believe it was McManaman that started it all off, followed then by Beckham then Owen and Woodgate.

I'd like to see some English players play in Serie A, that coupled with hopefully a fairly succesful stint from Trap and Capello hopefully might get some real interest in the league. It's Sky's coverage that we want - not Bravo or 5 amateur rubbish.

I agree with much of what you say, Mezz, except that Setanta didn't drop its coverage - it claimed (at least) that it was outbid by Five. So I hold out some hope that it could secure Serie A for next season with JR in the hotseat.

I worry that live calcio might disappear, but at the same time I find it hard to believe that football from Holland, Argentina, Germany and France will be shown on various channels, but no calcio. I take your point that British fans have a negative view of Serie A, but broadcasters must know there's a core group of people who got hooked by C4's coverage in the 90s.

Here's hoping, anyway. Perhaps you'll consider creating a sticky at the top of the forum later in the summer for news (or even gossip?) about the destination of the TV rights?

just do what i'm doing, move to Italy!
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Forza Roma!

Romanista wrote:

Perhaps you'll consider creating a sticky at the top of the forum later in the summer for news (or even gossip?) about the destination of the TV rights?

No problem, I'll add this to the stickys in about a month's time until the season actually starts and we know if we are/aren't going to be able to watch live games!
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ACF FIORENTINA : FORZA LA VIOLA

Five offer D-Day choice - watch Parma-Inter, Catania-Roma or both!
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Up to the minute news, match reports and comment on www.calcioitalia.co.uk

Micky wrote:

It's Sky's coverage that we want - not Bravo or 5 amateur rubbish.

I'd take five over paying for Sky Sports anytime.
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L'uomo tigre

A valid point, but as I pay for Sky Sports all year round anyway, it would be great for me. They have midweek Spanish games, a highlights programme, they show the copa del rey.........that's the sort of coverage I'd like of Calcio.

I came across this on the other forum earlier this morning:

***************************************************************

Your Reference:  VA/220241/SD (Please quote this reference in all
further correspondence)      
         
               
Date:  17th June 2008


Dear ******

Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding Football Italiano.

Unfortunately, we will not be screening coverage of the next Serie A season and therefore, will not be commissioning another series of Football Italiano. We are sorry to disappoint you.

If there is anything further we can help you with, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your interest in Five.

Yours sincerely

Steven
VIEWER ADVISOR


Please note that the contact details for Five Customer Services are as
follows:
   
Telephone:                              0845 7 05 05 05 / 020
7421 7270
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Free booklets and factsheets available at www.five.tv/factsheets

-----Original Message-----
From: -------------------
[mailto:-------------------
Sent: 12 June 2008 14:54
To: Customer Services
Subject:
please could you tell me if football italiano is to continue on Channel
5 next season?

response required: True

www.five.tv
***************************************************************

I can only hope someone takes an interest now that Mourinho is at Inter and Lampard (maybe) is joining him.  I doubt bet365 will show games in the same format either without a TV channel to have sponsorship on.

Oh well another summer of uncertainty.

disappointed to see Five wont be showing it next season, even if the coverage was poor atleast it was guaranteed serie a every sunday.

I think if sky sports got the rights it could do a lot for peoples opinion of calcio over here, especially if they brought lara along

gurjio wrote:

I can only hope someone takes an interest now that Mourinho is at Inter and Lampard (maybe) is joining him.  I doubt bet365 will show games in the same format either without a TV channel to have sponsorship on. Oh well another summer of uncertainty.

I doubt that will make any difference because Betfair had live Serie A matches as well last season and they weren't sponsering any TV programmes (That i'm aware of).
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Forza Juve!!!

Liam wrote:

gurjio wrote: I can only hope someone takes an interest now that Mourinho is at Inter and Lampard (maybe) is joining him.  I doubt bet365 will show games in the same format either without a TV channel to have sponsorship on. Oh well another summer of uncertainty. I doubt that will make any difference because Betfair had live Serie A matches as well last season and they weren't sponsering any TV programmes (That i'm aware of).

fair enough Liam thats good news then.  I thought they showed it as they were on in the adverts.

Van Basten, sky have spent the last 10 years dissing Serie A so I wont see it happening unless their obsession with Mourinho proves too much temptation.

This is bad news that Five have dropped Serie A like every other station recently. Eurosport might be the only hope.

I suggest that myles removes the link to the five blog in protest.

I really find it funny that you guys don't get Seria A coverage easily as we do here. There's about three channels covering seria A here and so it ain't a problem for us.

sms wrote:

I really find it funny that you guys don't get Seria A coverage easily as we do here..

It's not that funny but i wish it was. It'd be best if whoever gets it shows the evening match at 7.35 with a half hour build up + round up of the days goals prior to kick off. BBC 3 would be a good place as the Beeb have nowt football wise next season.

BBC3 only runs from 7pm though, so it wouldn't be able to screen any afternoon games...