Advanced Television

Mediaset to launch two new TV channels

February 23, 2018

From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset is planning to launch two new free-to-air TV channels later this year.

In April, the first new channel branded ‘20’ will take the place of Rete Capri on national DTT channel position 20, hence the name. It will broadcast in SD and the programme schedule will consist of recent movies and TV series, including The Mentalist, Chicago Fire, Rizzoli and Isles and Dr. House. The channel will target both to a male and female audience and Mediaset is aiming for a 1.5 per cent share.

The second channel, ‘Focus’, will be a factual entertainment channel and brand owned by Italian media group Mondadori and currently distributed by Discovery Italia. The contract between the two partners has not been renewed and the brand will be made available to Mediaset. The relaunch of Focus should take place between May and July.

According to some reports, Focus could take the place of Mediaset’s Italia 2 channel, which is likely to be closed down due to poor audience figures.

Although there are no confirmations at this moment in time, it is likely that both 20 and Focus will also be distributed via the tivùsat DTH platform.

Mediaset has 11 FTA TV channels that together reach 58 per cent of the population every week, equal to 34 million Italians. In addition, the broadcaster also manages the Mediaset Premium pay-TV platform.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, FTA