On the 21st August, the 2016/2017 Italian Serie A football games commenced, as the first game AS Roma against Udinese kicked off. As people waited for the live broadcast on the LeSports channel, they were told that they had to pay for the game if they wanted to watch.

LeSports signed a strategic partnership deal with the sports media company MP&Silva in 2015. According to the deal, LeSports were awarded the media rights to the Italian Serie A football games within China. In the 2015/16 season, LeSports broadcast the games free of charge. But this season, it will not be free any more.

LeSports has confirmed that it will charge for some games. Specifically, for every ten games in one round of the Italian Serie A, two of them are pay-to-watch games and the rest are free. Besides the super membership of the LeSports, the fans can also watch single games by paying ten RMB per game.

Proofread by Sean O Diobhilin