Italy antitrust opens probe into suspected TV football rights cartel

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's antitrust watchdog has opened a probe into possible cartel activity by companies managing television rights to Serie A and Serie B football, it said in a statement on Thursday.

The companies are suspected of attempting to alter the process of assigning TV rights for games broadcast to foreign audiences and then splitting the profits, the watchdog said.

Inspections were carried out at the offices of the firms in question on Thursday by the watchdog and finance police officials looking for relevant information, the statement added.

(Reporting by Isla Binnie, editing by Steve Scherer)