Iliad has acquired football rights in France and launched its opco in Italy as it looks to reboot after a disappointing set of financial results.
The telco will show “quasi-live” highlights of matches from Ligue 1, France’s top league, for the 2020-2024 period, as well as a more in-depth programme rounding up game days.
Iliad said it had spent around €200 million on the rights from France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP).
The auction was dominated by spain-based Mediapro, which won three of the seven packages on offer.
Another Spanish company, beIN, won one package, while two remain unsold.
Nevertheless, the LFP said the auction had raised €1.15 billion – a 60 percent increase on the rights sold for the 2016-2020 period.
Vivendi-owned Canal+ was the big loser, failing to win any rights for the first time since 1984.
In a statement, Iliad said: “In partnership with LFP, Iliad will develop trailblazing and customised services in synch with evolving digital content consumption habits to reach a larger audience, in particular including younger viewers.”
The news followed the launch of Iliad’s mobile business in Italy, which has been in the pipeline since 2016 when it acquired assets as part of the merger between Wind and Three.
Iliad Italy is launching with a €5.99 per month offer, which includes 30GB of data and unlimited voice and SMS.
Twenty-nine-year-old Benedetto Levi was hired to run new opco in January.
Earlier this month, Iliad unveiled a new group management team after sales dipped at its fixed-line division in the first three months of the year.