The Italian Government has said that it is not concerned that the merger of pay-TV operators Stream and Telepiù will created a monopoly in the market (see News Corp Completes Telepiu Transaction).
Telepiù is being acquired by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for E920 million and will be merged with News Corp’s Stream division to form Sky Italia.
Sky Italia will be Italy’s only satellite pay television operator. Nevertheless, the country’s anti-trust authority said that it has set rules which Murdoch has accepted; both parties seem set to leave it at that. The merger is still likely to be scrutinised by competition regulators at the European Commission in Brussels.
When Sky Italia launches next summer, it will have a subscriber base of around 1.9 million.
