Spain’s largest TV groups Mediaset and Atresmedia are paying a high price as a result of the coronavirus crisis. Both companies are seeing profits sharply dropping. In the first nine months of the year, Mediaset saw its profits fall by 34 per cent to €103.2 million, down €53.8 million. In Atresmedia’s case the reduction is […]
The five largest broadcasting groups present on the Italian market account for 216 TV channels out of 399, or 65 per cent of the total. Sky Italia is the biggest broadcaster in the terms of the number of channels (111), followed by Mediaset (38), Rai (27), Discovery Italia (24) and Fox Italia-Disney (16), according a […]
The increased time spent at home during the pandemic has led to a boom in demand for video streaming in Italy. On September 27th, the Digital Auditel (the ‘Total Audience’, which measures consumption through connected devices) set a new record, with 3.18 million hours of use. Research carried out by Samsung among Smart TV owners […]
Discovery is eyeing a possible tie-up in Europe with Italian broadcaster Mediaset, according to reports in the Italian press. According to Il Sole 24 Ore, contact between Mediaset CEO, Piersilvio Berlusconi, and the main shareholder of Discovery, Liberty Media chairman John Malone, was made last summer. Details of the so-called ‘Amerigo’ project have emerged, which […]
European broadcasting giants Vivendi and Mediaset seem to have tired of legal manoeuvres and have started talking to each other. An article in French newspaper Le Figaro reports that Vivendi and Mediaset have opened communications in an attempt to put an end to a four-year long dispute between them. According to a report from investment […]
Mediaset Spain saw its profit fall by 45.1 per cent in the first half of the year to €70 million, mainly due to the sharp drop of 30.6 per cent in advertising TV revenues. Net revenues fell by 22.3 per cent to €375.1 million, with ad revenues reaching €314 million, down 30.6 per cent. EBITDA […]
The Board of Directors of Mediaset has admitted that the MFE ‘MediaForEurope’ project cannot be implemented and is seeking alternatives. This follows the sentence issued by the Court of Madrid that rejected the appeal by Mediaset Espana requesting the removal of the suspension of the cross-border merger plan. According to the Italian broadcaster, the project […]
Italian DTH platform Tivùsat is planning to make a gradual switchover to MPEG-4 starting from December 2020. The change concerns 15-20 TV channels that now use MPEG-2 and will also involve ditching SD in favour of HD. Paramount Network made the switch last week, with Sky Italia’s free-to-air channels TV8 and Cielo moving to MPEG-4/HD […]
Last week an Amsterdam court suspended Mediaset Group’s planned merger of its Italian and Spanish operations to create a Dutch ‘HoldCo’ Media-For-Europe (MFE) following an appeal proceeding brought by Vivendi against the first-level verdict in favour of Mediaset Group. The Amsterdam court will pronounce its decision on September 1st. A report from investment analysts at […]
A commercial court in Madrid has set a July 1st hearing on Italian broadcaster Mediaset’s plans to merge its Italian and Spanish divisions under a Dutch holding, Mediaset Espana has declared in a filing with the Spanish regulator. The Spanish commercial court (Juzgados de lo Mercantil) suspended the merger in October 2019 as a precautionary […]