L'Agcom updates mandatory free-to-air events: rejoice Jannik Sinner fans

Agcom has updated the list of sports events that must be broadcast live and free to air, i.e., free to air, even if the rights have been purchased from paid platforms.

The list, approved by decree of the Ministry of Enterprise, until 2012 included as sporting events: the summer and winter Olympics; Italy’s matches at the World Cup and European Championships; official matches of the national team; the semifinals and finals of the Champions and Europa League with Italian national teams on the field; the Giro d’Italia; the Formula 1 and MotoGp Italian GP; and the Six Nations.

With the new update, great space is given to tennis: the semifinals and finals of the Davis Cup with Italy, the semifinals and finals of Grand Slam tournaments, Atp and Wta Finals, Masters 1,000 and Wta 1,000 with Italian athletes in the field are to be broadcast free to air.

In addition to tennis, other sporting events such as the finals of the World Championships in athletics, swimming, gymnastics, fencing, skating, and alpine skiing will also enter if played in Italy or in the presence of Italian athletes.

Rights holders will be obliged “to publish well in advance an offer to transfer the rights on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms,” with the possibility of broadcasting the events also on their own free-to-air channels.