Direzione Diritti Sportivi

The Buying Plan for sporting events is drawn up on the basis of the broadcasting assessment and Public Service operations that the Rai is required to perform and of the restrictions imposed by the budgets assigned. On this matter, considerable savings were made with respect to the reference budget in 2010.

The negotiations carried out with the counterparties holding the relative rights (International Organisations, Federations, brokerage agencies, etc.) are pursued taking care, on one hand, to purchase the rights to use on all the platforms on which Rai broadcasts, feeding not only the television programming (general-interest and theme-specific), but the radio and internet programming too. This phase is followed by entry into agreements to enhance Rai's sports broadcasting rights portfolio with important broadcasting events linked to the most significant sporting disciplines, and with the socalled 'minor' sporting disciplines which, while lacking relevance in terms of viewing figures, play an important role in Rai's mission as a public service broadcaster.

During 2010 the Sports Broadcasting Rights unit entered into over 300 agreements to purchase sports broadcasting rights. In some cases these were renewals of agreements to purchase rights already held by Rai, while in others they were new purchases, which increased the Rai's portfolio of broadcasting rights in order to continue guaranteeing the richest free offering with respect to the reference market, as well as the consequent broadcasting on the general-interest and theme-specific free digital channels dedicated to Sport, Rai Sport 1 and Rai Sport 2, the latter of which was launched during the year. In other words, the unit's activity focused on both the question of long-term agreements and renewals, and on the analysis and study of new buying opportunities, laying the foundations for launching negotiations for the completion of medium/long-term agreements.

Some of the important agreements which enabled the broadcasting on Rai of important events during 2010, primarily the World Cup in South Africa, are:

• the agreement with the FIFA for the 2010 World Cup;

• the agreement with the FIGC for the broadcasting of the matches played by the Italian football team (friendlies and qualifiers);

• the agreement with Lega Calcio relating to the highlights of the Serie A and B football championship matches;

• the agreement to purchase the Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) matches played from the eighth round;

• the contract with the UEFA to broadcast the Champions League (one match for every day's play);

• the agreements relating to the matches organised by the Lega Pro, 5-a-side football, women's football and other youth events;

• the exclusive contract for the Giro d'Italia and other cycling events;

• the agreement relating to the Tour de France;

• the agreements for the purchase of the men's and women's Serie A volleyball championship, as well as the men's world cup in Rome and the women's world cup in Japan;

• the long-term agreement relating to the downhill and cross-country World Cup Skiing;

• the agreement for the broadcasting of the world swimming cup.

Lastly, in terms of hours of programming, those dedicated to sport on the generalinterest channels, among news bulletins, features and commentary amounted to a total of 1,365. These broadcasts allowed four sporting events to be among the six most watched programmes of the year.