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SAT-ITALY 13.06.1997

SAT-ITALY (ITALIAN SATELLITE AND MEDIA NEWS) - June 13th 1997

CINECLASSICS ITALIA
A new satellite channel aimed at movie buffs is set to join Telepiu's
digital satellite package from September 1st. In fact Cineclassics Italia
will offer subscribers a selection of the movie classics, both Italian and
foreign - from "La dolce vita" to "Casablanca". The new channel is in fact a
joint venture between Multithematiques, a division of Canal Plus and the
Italian film institute Istituto Luce. A similar channel already exists in
France (400,000 subscribers) and Spain (120,000) while a German version will
start in the next few weeks.
Cineclassics Italia will show around 400 movie titles a year, out of which
50% will be made in the U.S.A,, 30% European and the remaining 20% Italian.
The movies shown will all come from the beginning of the cinema to the
1970's. They will be shown in dubbed as well as in subtitled versions. The
program schedule will additionally feature a weekly film magazine.
The subscription price for the new channel is not yet known, but it will
form part of a package containing other channels. Telepiu is currently
reorganising its program offer, making it more and more similar to Canal
Plus's digital service in France. That means that there will be another
movie channel in the package, the second one showing more recent movies.
Also, a documentary channel called Planete has already been announced as
well as the Italian version of The Disney Channel.

ITALIAN DAILY TO START TV CHANNEL
The Italian daily newspaper devoted to business news "Il sole 24 ore" is
seriously considering the possibility of launching a TV channel. Contacts
with two consultancy firms, McKinsey and Value Partners are currently
underway to explore the possibility of entering the TV market. One solution
would be to only produce TV programs to other television stations, while the
other would see the paper starting a thematic satellite channel devoted to
business and financial news.

RAI WINS RATINGS BATTLE
According to the recently released audience figures for the period December
'96-May '97, the RAI TV channels have registered an audience share of 49.75%
in the prime-time hours, compared to Mediaset's 41.12%. RAI has triumphed in
overall ratings as well, beating 3,796,000 viewers compared to Mediaset's
3,178,000. However, the survey shows a fall in the total number of viewers
watching TV - 316,000 less during the whole day and 1,137,000 less during
the prime-time slot.
One new element is a slight increase in audience for the other TV stations
(ie. not including RAI Uno, RAI Due, RAI Tre, Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete
4). They totalled a share of 9,13% compared to 7,21% a year ago. Finally,
the three Mediaset channels confirmed their popularity among the 15-44 year
age group, beating RAI by a 2% share margin.

CABLE FIGURES 
Telecom Italia's project for cabling up Italy called Socrate has finished
the year 1996 with investments of around 840 million DEM. The majority of
this sum went towards building the cable infrastructure in 19 major Italian
cities, with 500,000 passed and 320,000 households cabled-up properly. The
objective is to reach 5,5 million homes with total investments of around
7,000 million DEM.
However, the interactive service called Video Magic in which more than 100
million DEM were invested has been abandoned. The project aimed to
distribute movies on request to subscribers.

RAI BUYS NEW TV SERIES AT L.A. SCREENINGS
The Italian state television RAI has returned from Los Angeles from the
annual Screenings at which Hollywood majors present their latest TV products
with contracts for several new series.
They include: new episodes of "Matlock", a new sci-fi Warner series "Hungry
for survival" starring Sherilyn Fenn, an action series called "C-16"
featuring Eric Roberts and two new cop-series "Brooklyn South" and "Total
security". The package also includes two new Columbia produced series -
"Michael Hayes" and "Streetwalkers"

SURVEYS...SURVEYS
A recent survey conducted by Makno on 10,000 Italian families has shown that
80% are interested in the reception of satellite TV channels, while 50%
would be ready to subscribe to pay-TV services.  Another survey conducted
this time by Alchera Strategic Vision has registered an increase of 140% in
one year of the number of Italians connected to the Internet (1,377,000).
But the total number is still far lower than in other Western European
countries - only 2,9% of Italians in the age group 14-80 years navigate the
Internet.

PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS FOR RAI CHANNELS FROM JUNE 15th-21st

PRIME-TIME MOVIES
15.VI - RAI UNO, 20:45h - Blank check (USA-1994), starring: Brian Bonsall,
Miguel Ferrer
16.VI - RAI UNO, 20:50h - Roxanne (USA-1987), starring: Steve Martin, Daryl
Hannah
17.VI - RAI TRE, 20:40h - There was a little boy (USA-1995), starring: John
Heard, Cybill Shepard
17.VI - RAI DUE, 20:50h - Deceived (USA-1991), starring: Goldie Hawn, John Heard
18.VI - RAI UNO, 20:50h - Mia per sempre (Italy) - Part I, starring: Claudia
Cardinale, Tobias Moretti
19.VI - RAI DUE, 20:50h - Liz: the Elizabeth Taylor story (USA-1995),
starring: Sherilyn Fenn, Angus Mac Fayde
19.VI - RAI TRE, 20:50h - A case for murder (USA-1993), starring: Jennifer
Grey, Peter Berg
20.VI - RAI TRE, 20:40h - Dead bang (USA-1989), starring: Don Johnson,
Penelope Ann Miller
20.VI - RAI UNO, 20:50h - Mia per sempre (Italy) - Part II, starring: Lisa
Hearns, Tobias Moretti
20.VI - RAI UNO, 22:55h - Mario, Maria e Mario (Italy-1993),. starring:
Giulio Scarpati, Valeria Cavalli
21.VI - RAI DUE, 20:50h - Cutting class (USA-1988), starring: Brad Pitt,
Roddy McDowall

SPORT
15.VI - RAI DUE, 14:05h - Formula 1: GP Canada - qualifying heats
15.VI - RAI DUE, 18:30h - Formula 1: GP Canada - the race live
19.VI - RAI TRE, 16:55h - Football: Mediterranean games, ITALY-ALBANIA
21.VI - RAI TRE, 15:50h - Athletics: European cup from Munich

ENTERTAINMENT
17.VI - RAI UNO, 20:50h - Musical concert: I tre tenori - with Pavarotti,
Carreras and Domingo live from Modena
21.VI - RAI UNO, 20:50h - Music: Sanremo - Vina del mar - five Italian
(including Laura Pausini) and five Latinamerican music stars perform in Sanremo
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