Italy with 427 TV channels at end-June
July 9, 2018
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
A total of 427 TV channels were broadcast in Italy on the various distribution platforms in June 2018, belonging to 119 broadcasters, of which 72 are based in Italy.
The figures from the association of Italian radio and TV broadcasters (Confindustria Radio TV) include national TV channels distributed via DTT and satellite, as well as time-shifted, HD, 3D, Super HD, PPV and so-called temporary channels.
National broadcasters (12) transmit 363 TV channels, of which 128 on DTT and 305 on satellite. There are 30 time-shifted versions (+1, +2, +24) and 36 PPV services.
The offer consists of 231 so-called “parent” channels (excluding duplicate versions of HD and time-shift channels) and there are 111 HD channels (31 per cent of the total).
Of the total TV channels, 134 are FTA (distributed via DTT and TivùSat) and 229 pay-TV (210 on satellite and 27 on DTT). Subscription-based platforms offer 80 HD channels, while there are also 32 FTA HD channels.
The main national broadcasters are Sky Italia (114 channels), Mediaset (44), RAI (26), Discovery Italia (26) and Fox Italia (22). The first four account for 58 per cent of the total, with 210 TV channels. Most of the broadcasters offer both FTA and pay-TV channels, with the exception of RAI (only FTA) and Fox Italia (only pay-TV).
On the DTT platform, Mediaset has the largest number of channels (34), followed by RAI (19) and Discovery Italia (12).
Three new DTT channels were launched since January: Zelig TV (Bananas Media Company), Motor Trend (Discovery Italia), IBox65 and IBox.it (Giglio Group). In addition, Deejay TV (Gedi) returned, ReteCapri rebranded as Mediaset Canale 20, while Mediaset Focus relaunched.
Sky Italia leads on the satellite platform with 113 TV channels, followed by RAI (26); Fox Italia (22); Mediaset (25); and Discovery Italia (24). A significant number of satellite TV channels are simulcast on DTT (70).
Of the 363 TV national channels, those dedicated to movies and TV series account for 27 per cent, followed by entertainment (15 per cent), football (10 per cent) and children (9 per cent).