TS News - Home Shopping Network Comes To Italy

• From: Martyn Williams <martyn@twics.com>
• Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 23:14:09 +0900
• From owner-ts-news@tele-satellit.com Thu Nov 14 09: 24:53 1996

TELE-satellit News, 14 November 1996

Home Shopping Network Comes To Italy
  MILAN, Italy, 96/11/14 (TS) -- The US shopping channel Home Shopping
Network (HSN) is planning to enter the Italian TV market from the beginning
of next year. HSN will take over the private TV channel Retemia which will
be transformed into a dedicated shopping channel.

  Retemia which broadcasts out of Lucca was created by businessman Giorgio
Mendella who later left due to problems with the justice. The current
shareholder structure is as follows: 40% is owned by small investors (around
4,000) with 30% owned by the Lagosten family (Raimondo Lagosten is president
of Retemia) and another 30% by the Cingari family.

  According to a recent EU directive, which is to be finally approved by the
end of this month, thematic TV channels (ie. home shopping channels) are not
limited in the number of commercials they carry.

  The value of Retemia is estimated at around 120 billion lira, with its
biggest advantage its coverage area - around 80% of the Italian territorry.
The channel no longer broadcasts by satellite but once leased overnight
hours on RTL-Veronique. HSN together with rival company QVC dominates the TV
shopping sector in the USA which is estimated to be worth several thousand
billion lira a year.

  By: Branislav Pekic

(c)TELE-satellit 1996. All rights reserved.

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