Sky Italia Sues Mediaset

September 17, 2009 World Screen
MILAN: News Corporation’s wholly owned pay-TV company Sky Italia has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset.
 
In the suit, filed against Mediaset’s RTI television division and Publitalia, its advertising rep firm, Sky Italia claims Publitalia refused to sell Sky Italia advertising time on Mediaset’s three commercial networks Canale 5, Italia 1 and Retequattro.
 
"News Corporation believes these companies have violated EC (European) rules governing free competition, as well as Italian media regulation, by refusing to allow Sky Italia to purchase advertising," News Corp. said in a statement.
Mediaset issued a statement late Wednesday calling the accusations "groundless," and said it "calmly awaits the confrontation in the courts". The company said it had carried more than 3,000 Sky Italia commercials on its network this year and accused Sky Italia of refusing to broadcast Mediaset commercials on its pay-TV channels.
 

The move is likely to heat up tensions between News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch and Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose family owns a controlling share of Mediaset.