The Italian Soccer League and state broadcaster RAI are heading for a last-minute deal to cover the season that opens Saturday.
A breakthrough has been made and only minor details remain to be hammered out, League sources said.
The deal gives RAI exclusive radio rights for live radio coverage of Serie A and B and post-match TV highlights but RAI will probably have to share evening highlights with its commercial rival Mediaset.
Soccer fans who don't have pay-TV have been on tenterhooks since Thursday when the Soccer League rejected RAI's bid as some six million euros short of its asking price of 30 million.
RAI has since upped its offer by more than 20%, sources said, putting the final figure somewhere between 25.5 and 27 million.
Mediaset will pay some eight million euros for its evening soccer show.
The satellite rights to live coverage are already held by Rupert Murdoch's Sky Italia, which has the lion's share of the pay-TV market.
RAI and Mediaset also offer a pay-TV service for people with digital terrestrial decoders.
