Serie A moving to Fox in U.S.

Serie A moving to Fox in U.S.

	Published : Wed, 07 Mar 2007 20:45 By : Agencies Print this Story

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Italian Serie A games will be televised in the United States on Fox Soccer Channel under a three-year agreement that starts with the 2007-8 season.

Fox plans to broadcast up three live games each weekend plus midweek matches, when they are scheduled. It estimates it will broadcast 140 games per season and also will televise a Monday highlights show.

Serie A's English-language U.S. rights have been split since the 2005-6 season, with GolTV owning the home games of most teams and Fox owning the rights to home games of Lazio, Lecce, Treviso and Cagliari.

'It really strengthens the international component of our soccer offering,' Fox Soccer Channel executive vice president David Sternberg said. 'We look at that to drive a lot of viewing and a lot of distribution growth.'

Fox Sports en Espanol acquired Serie A's Spanish-language U.S. rights, also under a three-year deal that starts next season. In addition, games are televised in the United States with Italian commentary on RAI International.

Fox Sports International, a division of News Corp., holds the English Premier League's U.S. English- and Spanish-language rights through 2009-10 and has rights to England's Football Association Cup and national team home games through July 2008, although some get resold to Setanta Sports, a pay-per-view operation. GolTV televises the top divisions of Spain and Germany.

Fox's schedule might feature Premier League games at 10 a.m. and noon Eastern on Saturday, with a Serie A match at 2:30 p.m, Sternberg said. Sunday's schedule could have Serie A games at 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., surrounding a Premier League match.

Fox Soccer Channel also has rights to the UEFA Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup, the Argentine first division and the CONCACAF Champions Cup, and it televises some Major League Soccer games.

ESPN and its sister networks ABC, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic holds the rights to the European Champions League along with the 2008 European Championship, the 2010 and 2014 World Cups and some MLS games.