Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset ended the first nine months of 2015 with pay-TV revenues of €406.1 million, compared to the €402.5 million in the same period in 2014.

During a conference call with analysts, the president of pay-TV unit Mediaset Premium, Marco Giordano, said the number of subscribers reached 1.81 million at end-September. He added that the figure has since grown to nearly 1.9 million in October and should reach the 2 million target by the end of 2015, in line with objectives.

Another positive result for Mediaset is that its DTT channels (free and pay) have the largest audience share in the multichannels segment (9.2 per cent). Discovery Italia is now in second place (7.5 per cent), while public broadcaster RAI has fallen to third place (6.9 per cent).

Overall, Mediaset’s terrestrial TV channels confirmed their net leadership among viewers in the commercial target, leading in the 15-64-age-range with a prime time share of 36.6 per cent and a 34.5 per cent share in the 24-hours.

Meanwhile, Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore has reported that the launch of Mediaset Premium on satellite, initially planned for the beginning of 2016, may be postponed. This decision could be motivated by the positive take-up of the pay-TV service on DTT, with 112,000 net additions on Q2 2015, and the intention to give priority to further improving content, especially in HD.

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