Fox Sports is staying onside with Serie A, Italy's top futbol circuit.
Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Soccer Plus and Fox Sports en Español have reached a joint renewal of for exclusive U.S. broadcast rights to Serie A for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons. Deal terms, reached with international sports agency MP & Silva, were not disclosed.
Under the agreement, Fox Soccer Channel will air three live matchups per weekend, one on Saturdays and a pair on Sunday, plus midweek fixtures when scheduled. Premium channel Fox Soccer Plus will feature one exclusive window on both Saturdays and Sundays. Both networks will present the matches in the high-definition format. For its part, Fox Sports en Español will air a minimum of three live matches each week during the Serie A season, which runs from August through May, in Spanish.
All told, Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Soccer Plus combined will air approximately 187 games in HD per season. Fox Sports en Español also has access to 187 matches per campaign..
The three services also retain the rights to weekly 30-minute Serie A preview and review shows. In addition, a selection of live and on-demand Serie A matches will be streamed each week through Fox Soccer Channel's broadband video service Foxsoccer.tv.
"Serie A features some of the most competitive soccer in the world with many of Europe's most successful clubs," said David Nathanson, general manager of Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Soccer Plus, in a statement. "This renewal of our long standing partnership with Serie A represents our continued commitment to delivering the world's greatest soccer competitions across our portfolio of networks year round."
"In recent years we've seen a tremendous growth of interest for Italian soccer within United States," noted Carlo Pozzali, CEO of MP & Silva America. "We are so glad to continue our partnership with Fox, a leading media group capable of guaranteeing tremendous exposure for Serie A games through its English and Spanish language networks."
Last October, Fox Sports International secured exclusive rights to the Barclays English Premier League for the 2010-11 through 2012-13 seasons. Under that pact, Fox Soccer Channel remains the primary home to England's top soccer circuit, gaining rights to all 380 matches per season, while Fox Sports en Espanol will continue as the primary vehicle for BPL matches to Hispanics here in the States. Fox Soccer Plus also has rights to matches from England's top circuit.
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