New platform for Italian basketball: Basketball League announces LBATV
On the sidelines of the Basketball League assembly that met Tuesday via videoconference, the organizing body of Italy’s top league announced the upcoming creation of LBATV, a paid OTT platform that will make available the games of the A Series, the Italian Cup Final Eight and the Italian Super Cup through a special app for TV and mobile devices.
Thus LBA President Umberto Gandini: “At a time when traditional TV is losing ratings and OTT platforms have been unwilling to recognize the value of Serie A basketball, we have decided to adopt a new direct distribution strategy to be in the homes of all fans to offer the show. This is not a short-term operation but a long-term one, an investment made with one of the world”s top-rated technology companies to help our clubs be more and more attractive and sustainable”.
The following are the statements of newly elected LBA President Maurizio Gherardini: “We felt that the model followed in recent years was outdated and that it was necessary to take a different path by moving ahead of the times. We are convinced that this is the future of sports with the Leagues and its clubs as protagonists, capable of distributing their product directly to the market. All with the goal of ensuring an increasingly solid future for top Italian basketball and its clubs with an investment aimed at obtaining more revenues over time by finding a new and different economic balance”.
In the coming days, Lega Basket then specified, the dates and prices of subscriptions to the platform will be announced along with all the ways to take advantage of LBA content. At the same time, LBA is working on building initiatives to promote the platform, with the aim of increasingly expanding the number of fans and growing Italian top basketball.
