Agcom, Italy’s Communications Regulatory Authority, has approved guidelines to ensure that TV and media services of general interest occupy a prominent position on Smart TV screens. These guidelines balance the need for prominence with users’ freedom to customise their viewing experience, as outlined in European media freedom regulations. They establish criteria for classifying a service […]

Piracy Shield, a new system designed to combat online piracy in Italy, became operational earlier this month and has since managed to block 528 IP addresses and 114 illegal sites. According to estimates by Italy’s Communications Authority (AgCom), this move has prevented around 100,000 households from illegally watching premium content. The system aims to protect […]

The number of SVoD users in Italy has started to decline, according to a report from the Communications Regulatory Authority (Agcom) that covers the first nine months of 2023. In September 2023, there were 15.3 million users, a slight decrease of 23,000 compared to the same month in 2022. Netflix, the dominant player in the […]

There are currently 25 million Italians watching TV content every month through a connected Smart TV. This figure grows to 32 million, or over half of the Italian population, if external devices are included. Despite the rise of streaming platforms, traditional TV is still holding its own. The average TV viewing time in 2023 was […]

In the first half of 2023, the average daily number of TV viewers in Italy decreased by 2.3 per cent to 8.56 million, while average prime TV viewers fell by 3.2 per cent to 20.01 million. The Communications Observatory of the Communications Authority (AgCom) attributes this drop to the increasing competition from streaming video providers. […]

The Italian TV sector was worth around €8 billion in revenues during 2022, down 0.3 per cent compared to 2021, according to the Annual Report of the Communications Authority (AgCom). The free-to-air segment accounted for 60 per cent of this figure or €4.8 billion (-0.9 per cent), while pay-TV revenues increased slightly (+0.5 per cent) […]

Italy’s Camera dei deputati  (Chamber of Deputies), the lower house of the Italian Parliament, has approved in its first reading and unanimously new measures to fight the illegal distribution of copyright-protected content. The initiative brings on board the Communication Authority (AgCom), the National Cybersecurity Agency and Internet Service Providers. The target of the new anti-piracy […]

The number of unique users of SVoD platform users in Italy amounted to 15.3 million in September 2022, a drop of 287,000 users year-on-year, according to the Communications Authority (AgCom). Netflix had 8.9 million average unique users (+4.2 per cent), followed by Prime Video with 6.4 million (+11.5 per cent), Disney+ with 3.4 million (+41.7 […]

A new regulation approved by Italy’s Communications Authority (AgCom) will extend the investment obligations in European audio-visual content and independent productions to streaming platforms based abroad. According to the regulator, the regulation, which replaces the one adopted in 2019, was subject to public consultation and took into account the comments that emerged during the hearings […]

Italy’s Communications Authority (AgCom) plans to intensify its crackdown on online piracy by introducing instant IP blocking. The regulator is aiming to modify resolution 680 dating back to 2013 that governs the blocking of illegal content. Currently, a precautionary order must be adopted by AgCom within three days of receipt of the complaint by the […]