SAT-ITALY 26.06.1998

from: owner-sat-italy@tags1.dn.net
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 19:05:12 +0200
SAT-ITALY - EDITION 26/98 - June 26th 1998 
Italian Satellite and Media news/Notizie della TV via satellite in Italia 
edited by/editore Branislav Pekic (owner-sat-italy@tags1.dn.net)


DISNEY CHANNEL IN OCTOBER
After several delays, it seems that the Italian version of the Disney
Channel is to be finally launched on October 3rd at 20:00 hours. The
channel will be commercial-free and all programs will be transmitted
entirely in the Italian language. The program schedule will include a
selection of the best programs produced by Walt Disney, original
productions and program acquisitions from Italy and Europe. Disney Channel
Italy will be on the air daily from 06:00 to midnight and will be
transmitted as part of Telepiù's D+ digital bouquet.
________________________________________________________________________
- Dopo diversi rinvii, finalmente il 3 ottobre prossimo, alle ore 20:00
parte la versione italiana del Disney Channel. Il canale sarà trasmesso
all'interno del bouquet digitale Telepiù D+. Del tutto privo di pubblicità,
trasmetterà una selezione dei migliori programmi Walt Disney, dalle
produzioni originali ai programmi d'acquisto italiani. Emetterà dalle 06:00
fino alla mezzanotte.


SOFIA LOREN CHANNEL
The legendary Italian film actress Sofia Loren is to get a satellite
channel named after her. The "Sofia" channel will be dedicated to Italian
fashion and will start broadcasting from January 1999 via satellite to all
of Europe. It will be on air 12 hours a day and a budget of 12 million DM
has already been set up by the owners of the channel, the Agenzia per la
couture. The program schedule of the channel will include coverage of major
fashion events in Rome, Milan and Florence, but will also devote time to
new technologies, alternative lifestyles, music, interviews with the rich
and famous.
________________________________________________________________________
- Si chiamerà Sofia il primo canale satellitare dedicato alla moda italiana
che trasmetterà 12 ore al giorno, a partire da gennaio 1999. Il canale si
vedrà in tutta Europa ed è già stato stanziato un budget di dieci miliardi
di lire l' anno. L'idea di lanciare questo canale e dell'Agenzia per la
couture. Il canale "Sofia" trasmetterà le sfilate di Roma, Firenze e
Milano, ma anche programmi sulle nuove tecnologie, i linguaggi alternativi,
la musica,  interviste con personaggi del show-business


ITALIAN PARTNERS FOR ALL-NEWS CHANNEL
It seems that the Italian private TV holding group Mediaset is seeking
Italian partners for it's new 24-hour satellite channel, which will be
dedicated to news and current affairs. According to Mediaset president
Fedele Confalonieri, talks are currently going on with some Italian editors
"but there are no definite deals yet". Sources within the industry think
that the potential partners will be found among the publishing giant RCS or
editor of the financial daily "Il Sole 24 Ore". It is a well-known fact
that both publishers are interested in expanding into the TV business and
both would be ideal partners for Mediaset.
________________________________________________________________________
- Il presidente della Mediaset, Fedele Confalonieri ha confermato che il
nuovo canale satellitare "all-news" sarà realizzato con partner italiani.
Ci sono già stati contatti con alcuni editori italiani ma non ci sono
ancora accordi definiti. Si parla che i potenziali
partner sono i gruppi RCS e Sole 24 Ore. Si sa che entrambi editori sono
interessati ad entrare nel settore TV e i due partner sarebbero
complementari per Mediaset.


BT BUYS AND SELLS MEDIASET STAKE
The leading U.K. telecom operator British Telecom has, for the first time,
become a direct shareholder in the private Italian TV holding group
Mediaset. In an official communiqué, BT confirmed that it would take up a
0,70% stake in Mediaset, which was previously held by Albacom Holdings, a
joint venture between BT and the Italian bank BNL. The value of this stake
is valued at around 60 million DM. However, it seems very probable that BT
has already put its stake on the market. The current shareholding structure
of Mediaset is as follows: Fininvest (48,63%), Nethold Italy/Canal plus
(6,45%), Capital research and management (2,78%), Morgan Stanley asset
management (2,36%), Kingdom Investiments and Services/Al Waleed (2,29%),
Albacom Holdings (2,1%), Pay Tv Beteiligungs/Kirch Gruppe (1,3%) plus banks
and minor investors.
________________________________________________________________________
- La British Telecom entra nel capitale di Mediaset, il gruppo televisivo
che fa capo alla Fininvest. Il colosso inglese di telecomunicazioni,
presente in Mediaset indirettamente (tramite la Albacom Holding) assumerà
direttamente lo 0,70% rilevando le opzioni in mano proprio ad Albacom
Holding, ad un prezzo complessivo di circa 60 miliardi. E' molto probabile
che BT ha già venduto gran parte dei titoli sul mercato. Le quote
aggiornate degli azionari di Mediaset sono le seguenti: Fininvest (48,63%),
Nethold Italy/Canal plus (6,45%), Capital research and management (2,78%),
Morgan Stanley asset management (2,36%), Kingdom Investiments and
Services/Al Waleed (2,29%), Albacom Holdings (2,1%), Pay Tv
Beteiligungs/Kirch Gruppe (1,3%), alcune banche e altri piccoli azionari.


CECCHI GORI SEEKS U.S. PARTNER
In an interview with the Italian daily "Il Sole 24 Ore", the Italian media
magnate Vittorio Cecchi Gori has confirmed that he is negotiating with a
potential partner based in the U.S. Cecchi Gori said that talks are at a
"good stage" but he did not want to reveal the name of the other party.
The media magnate revealed that representatives of his company Cecchi Gori
Group has several meetings with RAI and Telecom Italia regarding the launch
of an all-Italian digital platform centred on Stream. He added that such a
platform would be open to other interested parties and said he favoured the
existence of two distinct platforms, one Italian and the other European
around Telepiù. Cecchi Gori said that if things go as planned, his company
is ready to launch the first pay-TV channels in October.
________________________________________________________________________
- In una intervista rilasciata al quotidiano "Il Sole 24 Ore", il magnato
Vittorio Cecchi Gori ha confermato che le trattative con un futuro socio
americano "sono a buon punto". Lui però vuole mantenere ancora segreto il
nome del suo interlocutore. Sull'accordo per la piattaforma digitale dice
che ci sono stati incontri con RAI e Telecom Italia per costituire la
piattaforma italiana, attorno a Stream. Cecchi Gori favorisce l'idea di due
piattaforme digitali: una italiana e una europea attorno a Telepiù. Se ci
sarà accordo, la pay-TV della Cecchi Gori Group potrebbe partire già ad
ottobre. 


BERLUSCONI/MURDOCH/KIRCH
In it's latest edition, the German weekly "Focus" has reported on a secret
meeting between the media moguls Leo Kirch, Silvio Berlusconi and Rupert
Murdoch that allegedly took place on June 15th, at a hotel in Munich. The
main topic of the meeting was "joint television projects", primarily in the
field of digital TV. According to "Focus", the three moguls mostly
discussed Kirch's urgent need to find a partner for his German digital
platform DF-1, following the EU decision not to allow DF-1 to merge with
another pay-TV operator Premiere (controlled by Bertelsmann). No more
details from the meeting have emerged, but it's public knowledge that DF-1
is in serious trouble, due to low subscriber figures (several tens of
thousands) and huge financial losses (nearly one billion DM).
________________________________________________________________________
- Silvio Berlusconi ha partecipato il 15 giugno ad un incontro "segreto" in
un hotel di Monaco di Baviera con i tycoon Rupert Murdoch e Leo Kirch. Lo
scrive nel suo nuovo numero il settimanale tedesco Focus. Durante questo
incontro si sarebbe discusso di Ťcomuni progetti televisiviť. Tv digitale,
in primo luogo. Secondo Focus, i colloqui sarebbero ruotati attorno al
bisogno di Kirch di trovare un partner per la sua TV a pagamento DF1, dopo
che l'antitrust europeo ne ha vietato la fusione con l'altra pay-tv
tedesca, Premiere, controllata dal gruppo Bertelsmann. La piattaforma
digitale DF 1 ha raccolto finora poche decine di migliaia di abbonati e ha
collezionato perdite per circa 900 miliardi di lire. 


TELEPIÙ OFFERS FREE DIGITAL BOXES
Good news for all Italians who own a first generation digital receiver
produced by Pace, the DVR 500 and are subscribed to Telepiù. The Italian
digital TV operator has announced that it will give all those interested,
in exchange and free of charge, a Goldbox digital receiver which is
Seca/Mediaguard compatible. When it appeared on the market, the Irdeto
compatible DVR 500 was principally intended for the reception of Telepiù's
DSTV package (now called D+).
________________________________________________________________________
- Nei prossimi giorni deve partire la campagna di sostituzione gratuita dei
vecchi ricevitori DVR 500, i primi ricevitori digitali PACE per la
ricezione del bouquet digitale Telepiù compatibili con il sistema Irdeto. I
possessori (e abbonati a Telepiù) del vecchio ricevitore riceverrano in
cambio un nuovo Goldbox (compatibile con lo standard Seca/Mediaguard). 


SERIOUS FINANCIAL PROBLEMS FOR RAI
A recent audit report commissioned by RAI has shown that the public
broadcaster would go broke if the TV license fee was abolished. The report
in question analysed in detail the accounts of RAI and it's main competitor
Mediaset and they showed that the private TV holding pays it's employees
522 million DM a year while the sum for the public broadcaster is 1,666
million DM.
Operative costs at RAI are also much higher - 3485 compared to Mediaset's
1538 so the main question on everyone's mind is why are operative costs
(acquisitions and day-to-day running) of RAI 126% higher than those of
Mediaset. The auditors concede that RAI has some duties towards the general
public which Mediaset does not have, but that does not explain such a high
degree of inefficiency. In order to try to resolve the problem, RAI's
managers have come up with a plan for dividing the company into five
divisions, which will slowly become open to private investors.
________________________________________________________________________
- Un dossier preparato dai revisori dei conti dimonstra la gravità della
situazione finanziaria della RAI. Il dossier confronta i bilanci
consolidati di Mediaset e RAI del 1997.
e constata che senza il canone la RAI "fallirebbe". I dati rivelano che
Mediaset paga tutti i suoi dipendenti 522 miliardi l'anno, mentre la TV di
stato, invece, 1,666 miliardi. Nella sezione "costi operativi" (acquisti e
le prestazioni) Mediaset sborsa 1,538 miliardi e la RAI 3,485 miliardi. La
questione che tutti si posano è perchè i costi operativi RAI superano del
126% quelli Mediaset? I revisori ammettono che una TV pubblica ha obblighi
verso i cittadini, ma troppe inefficienze non si possono giustificare. Il
CDA della RAI ha scelto di dividere l'azienda in cinque divisioni, che
saranno aperte ai privati.


NEWS IN BRIEF
- According to a recent survey conducted by IPSOS Explorer Group, only 3%
of Italian households watch satellite TV channels (compared to a 36%
European average). The survey was conducted among 15,000 people older than
15 years.
- Two Italian radio stations, Radio Italia and Radio Rete have been noticed
with test signals on the ASTRA 1G frequency of 12,668 GHz/Ver. The
parameters are as follows: Symbol rate 
22000 and FEC 5/6. 


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