Sky Italia, Mediaset content and carriage deal
April 3, 2018
By Colin Mann
In a further sign of the need for one-time rival TV services to co—operate in the face of competition from international streaming giants, Italian commercial broadcasters Sky Italia and Mediaset/Rti have signed a dual commercial partnership that they say will benefit both Sky and Mediaset Premium’s existing customers, while enabling Italian viewers to enjoy Sky via a new DTT service.
The first part of the deal will see five cinema and four TV series channels, currently only airing on Mediaset Premium’s platform, made available to Sky’s existing satellite customers at no additional cost. The deal will further enrich Sky’s wide-ranging library of on-demand content, which includes film premières and the most popular TV shows from around the world, that over 3.1 million Sky families access to download and watch their favourite programmes anytime, anywhere.
Following the deal, Sky Cinema Pack customers will also be able to watch – in addition to the 12 HD Sky branded channels which already air one première a day, box-office hits and the best Italian films – Premium Cinema and Premium Cinema +24, with even more premières and Hollywood blockbuster films, Premium Cinema Energy, dedicated to action, horror and thriller movies, Premium Cinema Emotion with romantic comedies and the most exciting stories, Premium Cinema Comedy, entirely dedicated to comedy and entertainment, from Italian cult movies to the most successful comedy films. Together, these channels air over 1,400 different film titles each year.
Sky Family pack customers will be able to watch the Premium Action channel, dedicated to action series, superheroes, fantasy and SyFy, Premium Crime, with crime and legal dramas, Premium Joi with great stories ranging from medical, romance and family dramas and Premium Stories, dedicated to comedy series, sitcoms and all kinds of comedies. These channels will further enrich an already extensive offer, landing side by side with Sky Uno, Fox, Sky Atlantic and National Geographic channels.
As part of a second commercial agreement covering the DTT platform content distribution, Sky Italia will rent bandwidth from the multiplexes managed by Mediaset-controlled company Ei Towers to deliver its pay-TV offer, specifically designed for DTT.
Starting from June 1st 2018, thanks to the transmission capacity offered by Mediaset Group, Sky will create its own pay-TV offer on DTT that will combine a selection of Sky and Fox channels side by side with nine Mediaset channels, namely five dedicated to films and four to TV shows, which will also be available via satellite. Alongside this cinema, TV series and entertainment pack, it will be possible to add a sports offer featuring a selection of Sky’s sporting events, also in High Definition.
Thanks to this offer, enjoying the Sky TV experience will be easier as customers will be free to choose their favourite distribution platform among the satellite, the Internet or DTT.
Further details related to Sky’s DTT offer will be announced closer to launch.
“The strategic agreement signed today by Sky and Mediaset is full of good news for TV lovers,” declared Sky Italia CEO Andrea Zappia. “By next Summer, Sky subscribers will be able to enjoy the entire Mediaset Premium’s cinema and TV series offer, all in HD, included in their subscription and at no additional charge. It will almost be like having two pay-TV offers for the price of one. After the launch of Sky Q and the announcement of the partnership with Netflix, this agreement confirms Sky’s resolve to offer Italian viewers the best possible television experience. The other good news is for non-Sky subs. Thanks to this new partnership we will offer greater freedom of choice to prospect customers willing to sign up for a pay-TV service, launching in June an offer specifically designed for DTT. Being able to bring an increasingly extensive and complete TV offer into our subscribers’ homes while ensuring the utmost freedom of choice makes us all very proud. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers as their trust encourages us to improve our service every day.”