Italy’s communications minister Mario Landolfi has told Serie A clubs and television companies to reach a compromise in order to resolve the row about TV rights.
Fourteen Serie A sides had threatened to boycott matches against Juventus, Milan and Inter Milan in dispute about how clubs sell their broadcast rights.
“Those in charge of soccer and television have been urged to find a solution that guarantees the championship and fulils the needs of the broadcasters,” Landolfi said.
Clubs had demanded a return to collective bargaining, but the proposal was blocked by prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia political party.
The Berlusconi family holding company Fininvest owns Milan, one of the clubs that benefits most with the present arrangement.
Riccardo Perissich, chairman of broadcaster Telecom Italia Media, said a return to collective bargaining was on the cards.
“It is probable that we will move towards the collective sale of television rights: we achieved consensus today that the current system of bargaining needs to be replaced,” he said.
Italian clubs have negotiated their own deals since 1999, a situation that has increased the financial gulg between the bigger clubs and the rest.
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