Italy expands TV offer
March 29, 2018
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
The Italian TV market continues to be dynamic, with new national channels continuously being added to the already bountiful offer.
Mediaset has confirmed April 3rd as the launch date for its new free-to-air general entertainment channel, called 20 Mediaset, which will be available both via digital terrestrial and on satellite platform TivùSat (only in HD), in both cases on channel 20.
The schedule will mostly consist of recent TV series and movies, but the channel will kick-off with a live transmission of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final match between Juventus and Real Madrid. Mediaset has also confirmed that it will air some matches of the World Cup on 20 this summer.
Discovery Italia has announced that it will launch the Motor Trend channel on April 29th, available on DTT and TivùSat (in both cases on channel 56) and the Vodafone TV platform.
Motor Trend will be dedicated to motor sports, a passion equally shared by male and female viewers in Italy, and its schedule will also include popular programmes such as Fast n’ Loud, American Chopper, Diesel Brothers, and Car Crash TV.
Meanwhile, Italian thematic channel producer Giglio Group has closed down Acqua (available on DTT channel 65) and substituted it with Cloud Food, an innovative technological platform for the management of online orders of Italian food products.
The new company is a joint venture between Giglio Group, which holds a majority 51 per cent stake, and Acque Minerali d’Italia (49 per cent).
The project also consists of the T-commerce TV channel Ibox 65, dedicated to the world of home and family, which will allow the purchase of products distributed by Giglio and Cloud Food.