News that the BBC will air Italian football until the end of the season will no doubt be encouraging news for football fans who are growing tired of shelling out a fortune for streaming services. However, the Beeb has also been busy structuring two other major deals that will see sport free-to-air on their service. As well as bringing Serie A to the masses, the BBC has announced that it will continue its coverage of England’s Netball Super League after extending its rights agreement ahead of the 2026 season.

Back in January the broadcaster also unveiled a landmark deal with YouTube, which will see the corporation produce content for the video streaming service. The content will include a mix of entertainment, documentaries, children’s channels, news and sport. It began with the ongoing Winter Olympics,which is currently being held in Milan and Cortina, with the BBC showing hours of action from the Italy-based event.

The BBC‘s deal for Italian football will enable it to broadcast eight Serie A matches between now and the end of the season. The agreement will see games sub-licensed from DAZN by BBC Alba and began with Bologna’s 2-1 win over Torino on Sunday.

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The free-to-air football will enable Scottish fans to keep up with several of their international stars based in Italy ahead of the World Cup this summer. This includes former Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay, who plays for Serie A Champions Napoli.

Other Scottish players currently plying their trade in Serie A include Che Adams, Lewis Ferguson, Billy Gilmour, Lennon Miller, Josh Doig and Kieron Bowie.

Margaret Cameron, Alba’s director of content, said of the agreement: “This is a great opportunity for fans in Scotland to see these games free-to-air and enjoy watching the fantastic Scottish talent in Serie A in the run up to the World Cup.”

The Netball Super League deal will see the BBC broadcast one game per week throughout the regular season on the iPlayer. The primary domestic rights package is held by Sky TV as part of a three-year rights deal which runs from 2024 to 2026.

Alex Kay-Jelski, director of BBC Sport said: “Championing women’s sport matters to us and bringing the NSL to BBC iPlayer puts it in front of more people than ever, free-to-air. It’s fast, physical and uncompromising, and we’ll be there every week, right at the heart of it.”

Meanwhile, it’s believed that the BBC will ramp up the number of channels it has on YouTube to 50. This has enabled the BBC to show 450 hours of action from the current Winter Olympics.

In a statement, YouTube and the BBC said the deal would highlight “the best homegrown storytelling and news from across the BBC”.

The BBC uses YouTube to promote its shows through trailers and short clips. Its main account has more than 15 million subscribers while the BBC Sport YouTube channel boasts around 906,000.

BBC director general Tim Davie said: “We’re building from a strong start and this takes us to the next level, with bold homegrown content in formats audiences want on YouTube and an unprecedented training programme to upskill the next generation of YouTube creators from across the UK. Importantly, this partnership also allows new audiences different routes into BBC services like BBC iPlayer and Sounds.”