Mockeridge attacks Mediaset
September 21, 2010
Sky Italia and Mediaset are back in their war of words with Sky CEO Tom Mockridge writing to the press to accuse Mediaset of dominating the Italian TV and arguing that “more freedom in the TV sector” was needed to encourage competition. Mockridge says Mediaset controlled 65 per cent of advertising revenue.
Mediaset chairman Fedele Confalonieri denied the accusations: “He (Mockeridge) points to Mediaset’s position in advertising, without declaring his own monopolist position in satellite TV with control over almost 90 per cent of the pay-TV revenues. He complains that he faces restrictive rules that, however, have not prevented his company in just seven years to overtake Mediaset in terms of revenues and to come very close to those of RAI… This is why we defend the right to not accept lessons in competition from a representative of the world’s most dominant media empire.”
Mockeridge wants a ‘transparent’ process for allocating new frequencies after DSO and removal of restrictions on advertising time on pay-TV channels.