Italy ends 2018 with 421 national TV channels
March 4, 2019
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
A total of 421 national TV channels were available in Italy at the end of 2018, owned by 128 media groups, according to research by Confindustria Radio Televisioni.
The figure includes DTT, satellite, time-shifted, HD, 3D, 4K, PPV and so-called temporary channels.
Italian media groups own 360 TV channels, of which 129 are distributed via the DTT platform and 307 on satellite (free and pay). There are 31 time-shifted versions (+1, +24) and 35 PPV services. The overall offer of parent TV channels (excluding duplicate versions of HD and time-shift channels) amounts to 216.
Of the total channels, 138 are FTA (available on DTT and TivùSat) and 222 pay-TV. There were 112 HD channels (31 per cent of the total), of which 13 are native (HD only).
The main media groups present on all technological platforms are Sky Italia (115 channels), Mediaset (36), RAI (26), Discovery Italia (26) and Fox Italia (22). The top five broadcast 225 TV channels, or 65 per cent of the total.
On the DTT platform, the leaders are Mediaset with 27 TV channels, followed by RAI (19), Sky Italia (14) and Discovery Italia (11).
Mediaset has reduced its presence on DTT from 42 to 27 TV channels, after the downsizing of the Premium pay-TV platform. On the other hand, Sky Italia boosted its presence from 3 to 14 TV channels.
The DTT platform continued to attract significant interest from broadcasters, with 8 new TV channels launching in 2018 (Zelig TV, Motor Trend, IBox65, IBox.it, Pop Economy, Deejay TV, Virgin Radio TV and Rete 4 HD).
On the satellite platform, Sky Italia continues to dominate with 115 TV channels, ahead of RAI (26), Mediaset (26), Discovery Italia (24) and Fox Italia (22). Many of the channels (76) are also simulcast on DTT.
In terms of programming, channels dedicated to TV series and movies account for 27 per cent of the total, followed by entertainment (17 per cent), football (9 per cent) and children (9 per cent).