Sports streamer DAZN fined by Italy’s antitrust authorities

Italy’s antitrust regulator has fined fast-growing sports streamer DAZN €500,000 for two alleged breaches of the country’s consumer protection code.

According to the regulator, the Perform Group-owned platform didn’t provide sufficient information to customers regarding its Serie A football offer for the 2018-19 season. In particular, the regulator said the company didn’t make any reference to the technical limitations that might impact on its claim that the matches could be seen ‘whenever you want, where you want’. DAZN was also criticised for some of the methods used to persuade subscribers to sign up to its live and on-demand service.

The sport streaming platform, which launched in June 2018 on the back of its high-profile acquisition of Serie A live soccer rights, has accepted the fine and taken action to improve the service in line with the watchdog’s intervention.

DAZN, which has also just launched in Spain, is not the first sports provider to run foul of Italy’s antitrust laws. Earlier this year, Sky Italia was fined €7 million for failing to provide “clear and immediate” information to potential subscribers that it did not have all Serie A’s games in its football package this season