Mediaset to appeal STB subsidy verdict
June 17, 2010
Mediaset, which has been ordered to repay millions of Euros it had received in state aid relating to DTT set-top box subsidies (see ATV 16/06/10), will appeal the European General Court's decision.
Mediaset will appeal to the European Court of Justice and say that the subsidies were provided direct to consumers and not to broadcasters, and that therefore Mediaset did not benefit from them. Spurred by a complaint from News Corp-backed Sky Italia, the European Union ruled in 2007 that the subsidies offered by Italian authorities for set-tops must be repaid as they were not technology neutral and amounted to state aid. Mediaset originally appealed to the General Court which upheld the EU's verdict.