SAT-ITALY 17.10.1997

from: owner-sat-italy@tags1.dn.net
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 19:03:00 +0200
SAT-ITALY - EDITION 38/97 - October 17th 1997 -
Italian Satellite and Media news edited by Branislav Pekic

As of this week, I've introduced some changes to the program highlights
section. Instead of including a list of movies on RAI channels (this
information is already available on another of Tele-Satellite's mailing
lists), Sat-Italy will include only a section of sports highlights on the
RAI and Mediaset channels. Please note that the Mediaset channels (i.e.
Rete 4, Canale 5, Italia 1) are available in clear MPEG-2 via the EUTELSAT
HOT BIRD 2 satellite.
If you want the movie highlights to remain or if you have any suggestions
or comments, please feel free to write in  - the e-mail address is
b.pekic@itaca.com

RAISAT3-ENCICLOPEDIA ON THE AIR
On October 13th, RAI's second thematic satellite channel
RaiSat3-Enciclopedia went on air. According to the director in charge,
Federico Scianò, the new channel has two roles. The first is to be a
"popular encyclopaedia" offering knowledge to a general audience, but it
will also try to offer additional material to viewers who already have some
sort of intellectual and cultural background. It will initially broadcast 6
hours a day, with the programs repeated 4 times.
Program highlights include magazines on communications and media,
interviews as well as documentaries. Saturdays and Sundays will be thematic
days, devoted to a single subject. In collaboration with the Ministry for
education, there will be 3 hours daily of programs requested by schools
which will be able to choose from a program archive of around 5,000 titles.
From January, an additional two hours of live programming for schools will
be added to the schedule, covering subjects such as education, culture,
health, environment, and media. 
Besides material from RAI's huge archives, RaiSat 3 will also show lots of
original programming including a retrospective on the '900's, a program
about languages and artistic tendencies in our century.
The RaiSat 3 channel is based in Naples and the budget for the first year
of operations is 15 million DEM.
The channel has it's own Web site - http://www.raieducational.rai.it
- Il 13 ottobre è partito il secondo canale digitale tematico della RAI.
RaiSat 3-Enciclopedia è una nuova TV "da sfogliare e consultare" per il
vasto pubblico, con una parte riservata ai programmi per la scuola.
Proporrà 6 ore al giorno, ripetute quattro volte. Ogni giorno, per 3 ore
saranno trasmessi programmi su richiesta delle scuole, che potranno
scegliere su un archivio di 5,000 titoli.  Il budget previsto per il primo
anno: 15 milliardi di lire. Tra le nuove produzioni in progetto, un
bilancio del '900 e un programma sul linguaggio.


NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS 
The first phase of the negotiations for a single Italian digital platform,
which would include all the major Italian media companies, has finished at
the end of September without reaching a decision. In the meantime, talks
have continued and it is hoped that one of the sticking points regarding
the evaluation of the assets of Telepiu and Stream will soon be resolved.
The president of the private TV holding company Mediaset, Fedele
Confalonieri recently announced that he thinks that there will be one
digital platform in Italy, which will enable healthy competition between
the various program providers.
If the talks end successfully, the principal Italian media companies - RAI,
Stet, Cecchi Gori and Mediaset hope to form a single digital platform
around the pay-TV network Telepiu, currently 90% owned by Canal Plus. The
Italian companies estimate Telepiu is worth around 3,400 million DEM, which
means that they would have to pay around 1,600 million DEM for a 45% stake
in the pay-TV network.
- La prima fase della trattativa per la piataforma digitale si è conclusa
il 30 settembre. In questi giorni si fanno le valutazioni rispetto agli
assets come Telepiu e Stream. Il presidente della Mediaset Fedele
Confalonieri ha dichiarato che prevede una piattaforma unica che permetterà
una reale concorrenza tra i gruppi che forniscono i contenuti.


CONFERENCE "TELEVISION IN ITALY IN THE DIGITAL AGE"
From October 8th-9th, Rome was host to the 4th annual Kagan World Media
conference "Television in Italy in the digital age". The conference brought
together major broadcasters, regulators, and financiers with leading
executives, advertisers and programmers from the broadcast, cable and
satellite TV industries.
The forum concluded that there is reason for optimism for the development
of digital TV in Italy, and it is expected by the year 2006, more than 5
million households (via satellite or cable) will have access to digital TV,
which is a great improvement compared to the current total of around
190,000 households. This in fact means that in less than 10 years time, 22%
of total households will have access to the new technology. 
The prospects for cable TV sector are also good - from 10,000 subscribers
at the end of 1997, this figure will rise to over 2 million by the year
2005, with revenues for the industry of around 1 billion dollars.
The current leader in the Italian market, Telepiu has improved it's
credibility after it was taken over by Canal Plus. Measures such as the
introduction of the possibility of leasing the digital box, a varied
program offer and a favourable Telecommunications bill have only served to
strengthen the digital industry. 
-Un seminario organizzato della Kagan World Media sulle prospettive della
TV digitale in Italia, si è svolto 8-9 ottobre a Roma. In presenza delle
massime autorità del settore, sono esposte le analisi e previsioni sullo
sviluppo del settore. Nel 2006, oltre cinque milioni di famiglie (circa il
22% delle abitazioni) avranno accesso alle tv digitale, o via satellite o
via cavo, rispetto alle 190mila stimate a fine '97 e tutte via satellite.
Per quanto riguarda la tv via cavo, dai 10mila abbonati di fine 97 la Kagan
prevede oltre due milioni nel 2005, con oltre un miliardo di dollari di
entrate.


MEDIASET REVENUES UP
The Italian private TV holding company Mediaset has recently released
figures for the first semester of this year. The revenues have totalled
585,6 million DM (up 17,7%), while revenues from advertising have increased
by 9,9% in the same period. During this period, the Mediaset TV channels
(Rete 4, Italia 1 and Canale 5) have broadcast a total of 13,032 hours,
with a percentage of 47,9% of own programming.
The company also reported an increase of 0,7 % points in audience in the
15-44 age group for it's three TV channels.
Among new acquisitions in the TV sector is the 25% stake in Spanish private
TV channel Telecinco, previously held by another Berlusconi company,
Fininvest. Mediaset has also formed a new holding company based in
Luxembourg, Mediaset Investment that will probably be in charge of
co-ordinating Mediaset foreign investments. 
The Italian media group is also involved in the development of mobile
telephone services through it's subsidiary Albacom whose shareholders
include British Telecom, Eni and BNL. 
- Utile lordo di 585,6 miliardi (+17.7%) per Mediaset nel primo
semestre'97. Buono l'andamento dei ricavi pubblicitari (+9.9%).
Nell'attivita' di broadcast le reti Mediaset hanno complessivamente
trasmesso 13.032 ore di palinsesto, di cui quasi la meta' e' stata
autoprodotta (47.9%).


RAI INTERNATIONAL RELAUNCH
Two years after its launch, RAI's foreign TV service called appropriately
RAI International was relaunched on October 12th.  Many new programs have
been introduced and the channel also has a new logo designed by the Italian
artist Ugo Nespolo. 
Among the new programs that will premiere on the channel are: "Radici"
(documentaries about the lives of famous Italians), "Opera club" (magazine
about melodrama), "Come eravamo" (Italian traditions), "Tour gastronomico"
(Italian cuisine) and "Primapagina" (review of the Italian press). RAI
International will also continue showing a selection of the best programs
of RAI's three terrestrial channels as well as live Italian football. The
news bulletins will soon be subtitled in various languages (among them
English and Spanish), depending on the coverage area.
RAI International is currently available via satellite to over 6 million
viewers around the world, and there are plans to soon extend the coverage
to the African continent. The channel's director, Roberto Morrione recently
admitted that they are behind other international broadcasters such as BBC,
Deutsche Welle and CFI as far as global coverage, but said RAI hopes to
catch up in the near future. 
- A partire dal 12 ottobre scorso, RAI International ha avuto un restyling
completo. Molti nuovi programmi annunciati: "Opera club" (dedicato al
melodramma), "Primapagina" (rassegna della stampa italiana), "Tour
gastronomico" (appuntamenti con la cucina italiana). RAI International
continua a trasmettere i migliori programmi delle reti terrestri RAI,
incluso il calcio in diretta. Tra breve, tutti i telegiornali veranno
sottotitolati nelle varie lingue (inglese, spagnolo). Il canale RAI
International si riceve in più di 6 milioni di abitazioni in tutto il mondo.


PLANETE ITALIA
Another new thematic satellite channel has started broadcasting as part of
Telepiu's D+ digital bouquet. Planete Italia appeared on October 12th and
is in fact the Italian version of Canal Plus's French channel. Like it's
French counterpart it broadcasts mainly documentaries on nature and science.
- Il 12 ottobre e partito Planete Italia, il nuovo canale tematico dedicato
ai documentari sulla natura, reportage di economia, politica e su altre
civiltà.


NEW RAI CHANNELS IMPROVE SALES
According to the Italian state broadcaster RAI, the start of its first
thematic satellite channel RaiSat 2 at the end of last month has provoked a
boom in digital equipment sales. In the first week of broadcasting,
thousands of digital receivers have been sold and the telephone switchboard
of the channel has been jammed with reception questions from interested
viewers.
- Secondo la RAI, nella prima settimana di trasmissione di RaiSat 2, sono
stati venduti migliaia di ricevitori digitali.


SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS ON ITALIAN TV CHANNELS FOR WEEK OCTOBER  19-26
(All times Central European)
19.X
RAI DUE, 19:00h - Basketball: Italian league
20.X
RAI TRE, 16:25h - Athletics: Gold marathon from Milano
21.X
RAI DUE, 17:55h - Football: UEFA Cup, Rotor Volgograd-Lazio (live)
RAI UNO, 20:40h - Football: UEFA Cup, Inter-Lyon (live)
RAI UNO, 22:35h - Football: UEFA Cup, Ajax Amsterdam-Udinese (live)
22.X
RAI TRE, 16:00h - Autoraces: IMSA Championship, 12 hours of Sebring (USA)
CANALE 5, 20:45h - Football: Champions League, Parma-Borussia Dortmund (live)
ITALIA 1, 22:40h - Football: Champions League, Kosice-Juventus
24.X
ITALIA 1, 09:15h - Alpine skiing: World cup, parallel slalom men+women from
Tignes (1st run)
ITALIA 1, 12:15h - Alpine skiing: World cup, parallel slalom, men+women
from Tignes (2nd run)
RAI TRE, 16:30h - Volleyball (women): Italian league
25.X
ITALIA 1, 09:45h - Alpine skiing: World cup, super G (women) from Tignes
RAI TRE, 12:55h - Formula 1: GP Europe from Jerez - heats
RAI TRE, 17:00h - Box: World amateur championships
RAI TRE, 17:30h - Volleyball: Italian league, Alpitour Traco Cuneo-Sisley
Treviso


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