News Corp., Mediaset Satisfied with Court Ruling

MILAN: A Milan court has ruled that Mediaset engaged in "unfair competition" in refusing to accept advertising from SKY Italia but will not compel the Italian media giant to immediately begin running ads from its pay-TV rival.

Last month, News Corporation’s SKY Italia filed suit against Mediaset’s RTI and Publitalia for violation of antitrust rules and unfair competition. News Corporation expressed its "satisfaction" at the decision issued by the Tribunale di Milano, which classified Publitalia’s rejection of SKY Italia advertising as "the execution of an anti-competitive agreement" with RTI and as being an act of unfair competition. The judge ordered that this decision be published in some of the major Italian newspapers at the expense of Publitalia.

Mediaset, meanwhile, also "expressed satisfaction" with the decision, calling it "a measure that does not change the conduct hitherto followed by the companies of the group." Mediaset noted that the request "to immediately recommence the supply of advertising for SKY Italia" has been rejected, as has the request to prohibit Mediaset from running ads for the Mediaset Premium service on its channels. The court also rejected a claim for 100,000 euros per day in damages. The court did mandate that Publitalia not apply "prejudicial rejection" of advertising campaigns for SKY Italia. "Mediaset underlined that this is precisely the approach that the company has always followed," the company said. "This is demonstrated by the 3,107 passages of Sky commercials shown by Mediaset on its channels in 2009 alone."