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Fox Sports loses Italian football, after double dealing by Serie A rights owner

Fox SportsSports broadcaster Fox Sports has said it will be unable to broadcast the Italian football league, Serie A in Australia after the exclusive rights were accidentally sold to two separate parties.

It appears the agency handling the negotiations MP & Silva  sold the rights to both Fox Sports and Al Jazeera, which according to The Australian is preparing to establish its own Australian sports channel next year.

Last month, Fox Sports announced it had secured the Australian broadcast rights to Serie A, however the sports channel this morning issued a statement saying the deal had collapsed and that the rights had been withheld, after it emerged that rights had been sold first, as part a larger multi-territory deal, and then later to Fox Sports.

“This is a very disappointing outcome. We had hoped to bring Serie A back to Australian TV after an absence of 18 months. Italian Football fans are very passionate and we are sorry we will be unable to broadcast Serie A this season,” said Patrick Delany, CEO of Fox Sports in a statement.

Fox Sports said it would still broadcast other football competitions including the Australian A-League, the English Premier League, La Liga, and the UEFA Champions League on ESPN.

The sports channel boss said he would be keen to pick up the Australian Serie A rights when they next become available.

“We will welcome any opportunity to enter the market for Serie A rights in the future,” said Delany.

At the time of posting Al Jazeera has not responded to requests for comment.

Nic Christensen 

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