Italy

[IT] AGCOM Adopts New Measures to Strengthen Press Coverage Rights in Audiovisual Sports Events

IRIS 2025-8:1/23

Francesco Di Giorgi

Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni (AGCOM)

Following a public consultation through a dedicated technical working group involving sports leagues, the National Federation of the Italian Press, the Italian Sports Press Union, the National Order of Journalists, the Usigrai journalists’ union, and leading associations representing the national and local broadcasting and print media sectors, Italy’s Communications Authority (AGCOM) has approved new provisions governing the exercise of press coverage rights in relation to so-called “related images” from Serie A and Serie B football matches and Lega A basketball games.

In its resolution, AGCOM provided a non-exhaustive list of “related images” – content potentially excluded from live broadcasts – that competition organizers are obliged to make available to accredited journalists upon request (see IRIS 2012-2:1/27).

The resolution– effective from the 2025/2026 sports season – establishes both the categories of footage that must be made available to accredited media operators and the procedures for requesting them. Specifically, within one hour of the conclusion of a match, organizers must provide access to images depicting:

- protests by registered players and officials, including protests over incidents not directly related to the match;

- crowd disturbances in the stands;

- discriminatory content or content offending public order;

- controversial on-field incidents;

- pitch invasions.

This regulatory framework is being introduced on an experimental basis. To ensure its application remains consistent with its guiding principles, AGCOM has decided that the technical working group that developed the measure will remain active throughout the trial period, enabling ongoing assessment and potential fine-tuning.

The measure’s primary objective is to safeguard equitable and transparent access to newsworthy material from sporting events of public interest – even when such events fall outside the strictly competitive context or are not captured during live coverage.

Conversely, the resolution clarifies that certain sensitive content – such as images of racial, gender-based, religious, or political discrimination; offensive banners; violent acts; public-order breaches; on-field protests; and contentious on-field incidents involving fouls, violent conduct, or serious injuries – may be withheld from live transmission, though still subject to post-event availability for legitimate journalistic use.

With this initiative, AGCOM seeks to reinforce the constitutional principles underpinning the right to information, while balancing them against the integrity of live broadcasts and the need to prevent the dissemination of harmful or unlawful content in real time.