Eutelsat Communications: DAZN Complements Streaming With Satellite Delivery to Homes Across Italy via HOTBIRD

September 16, 2023

Leading sports entertainment platform DAZN has signed a multi-year contract with Italian video service provider, EI Towers, to complement their content distribution to homes across Italy via the HOTBIRD satellites from Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL). DAZN will be distributing two HD channels, one full-time channel and one events-based channel, via Italy’s free satellite TV package, Tivùsat, at 13° East.

Tivùsat currently broadcasts over 180 TV and radio channels to around six million viewers. From September 2023, homes equipped to receive Tivùsat can subscribe to ZONA DAZN and watch seven exclusive Serie A TIM football matches, LaLiga EA sports as well as a wide range of live and on-demand content from DAZN.

HOTBIRD is the reference video neighbourhood for Direct-to-Home broadcasting in Italy, reaching millions of TV homes. Satellite distribution is the most reliable infrastructure to guarantee the delivery of HD quality content to all homes, no matter where they are located. Complementing DAZN’s sports streaming service in well-fibred areas, satellite’s ubiquitous signal is essential for delivering live premium events to all audiences across the country.

EI Towers is the leading Italian infrastructure operator managing the majority of the country’s national and regional digital terrestrial (DTT) networks. They are also the infrastructure partner of all private FM/DAB radio networks and the Italian Soccer Lega Serie A’s international broadcasting centre, IBC Lissone. Providing integrated and customized solutions to all content providers, for distribution on all platforms in addition to DTT, the current agreement covers the transportation of the channel feeds from DAZN’s playout to EI Towers’ main Head-End and Broadcast Centre, encoding, encryption, multiplexing, and uplink on the HOTBIRD satellites.

Stefano Azzi, CEO of DAZN Italia said of the new agreement: “Thanks to the new partnership with Tivùsat, we are expanding the methods of accessing our service to make the premium content we broadcast increasingly accessible. Our product is now usable in live streaming, on digital terrestrial and even more widely on satellite. As we continue to innovate our app to offer customers more engaging and interactive digital experiences, strengthening our presence on the satellite platform will allow us to reach fans even in areas with less internet access.”

Alberto Sigismondi, president of Tivùsat, commented: “We are particularly happy to be able to announce that from today, on the free Italian satellite platform Tivùsat, it will also be possible to receive DAZN premium content, with the ZONA DAZN offer from Serie A TIM, a dedicated channel accessible from every corner of the country from the mountains to the islands. Simplicity, quality and free have always been the basis of our satellite television offer: adding to this an important subscription option such as the DAZN service only confirms the value of our commitment and the strategic nature of our services also for premium content publishers”.

Laurence Delpy, General Manager of Eutelsat’s Video Business Unit, added: “This new deal highlights the continued relevance of satellite distribution, for content producers to reach the widest possible audience, no matter how remote they are located. It is essential when delivering highly popular sports content where every second counts. Satellite delivery is truly universal, and the perfect complement to streaming. It reaches all locations, no matter how remote, with a high-quality, reliable signal, and is the most efficient and sustainable means of distributing content, reaching all users with one single signal.”