Lega Serie A is facing the problem of Tring, the Albanian platform that regularly pays to have the rights to broadcast the Italian championship within its territory, but which also distributes the signal in Italy without the need to use a VPN: the subscription price is a little more than 20 euros per month, while the package also includes the Champions League.
Serie A is not at all happy with Tring, the Albanian platform that allows you to follow football at a very low cost even in the neighboring country. The point is that, technically, the subscription service does not arise as a pirate broadcast, since the network regularly pays Lega Serie A for the right to broadcast matches, but becomes such at the moment when the signal is not blocked in Italy, but is fully accessible even within Italian territory.
How much does a subscription to Tring cost, the Albanian "pirate" with which you can watch Serie A and the Champions League?
Serie A, but also the Champions League, as well as the Bundesliga, NBA, MotoGP. All are included in the package offered by Tring to its customers in Albania, with an annual price of around 250 euros, or a little more than 20 euros per month. A figure far from what is needed in Italy to watch all the football, where it is tens of euros more between DAZN and Sky (or NOW, saving something).
The Albanian platform buys the rights completely legally for the country's territory, but the signal – both satellite and through the application used for streaming – also reaches outside its borders, including Italy, without the need to use a VPN to simulate an Albanian IP. This creates a direct conflict with the exclusivity paid for dearly by Italian broadcasters.
Why doesn't Tring geolocate the Serie A signal by blocking it in Italy?
Tring, founded in 2004 and later transformed into a streaming service, has recently unified its offer with former rival DigitAlb, thus concentrating almost all the major sporting events available in Albania. The offer, as mentioned, is extremely favorable for Italy and the news that it can be taken advantage of there has spread among fans, so much so that last year the matches were even commented in Italian.
The anomaly is the lack of geolocation of the signal, which is normally foreseen by contracts for the sale of sports rights and which is missing this time. Tring has justified this with the need to reach many Albanians living abroad, but of course this is not a valid reason from a contractual point of view.
Serie A unhappy: Lega's reaction to solve the problem
Serie A certainly does not want to sit idly by, as it must protect the investment made by DAZN (and Sky for the three weekly matches in co-exclusive). According to what 'Fatto Quotidiano' writes, the Lega has already opposed the situation with official letters at the end of last season, and is now seeking a solution before the start of the next championship. One of the most drastic options would be to completely cut off the distribution of the signal in Albania, in response to a clear violation. It is, however, a delicate move: Tring remains an official partner and pays around 4 million euros per year for the rights to Serie A. The issue also involves the Champions League, whose Italian rights belong to Sky, and therefore also to UEFA.
The case highlights the problems of sports rights in the internet age. In Italy, the total value of football broadcasts exceeds 900 million euros per season (around 700 million euros from DAZN for Serie A alone). Contracts are sold for specific territories, but the network makes it increasingly difficult to prevent the use of a regular subscription purchased in one country in another. In this case, a VPN is not even needed.
