Sky Italia and commercial broadcaster Mediaset have held initial talks to discuss the possibility of setting up a joint pay-TV venture, reports Italian daily Corriere della Sera. The aim is to establish a new company combining the pay-TV activities of Mediaset Premium and Sky Italia, which together have around 7.2 million subscribers, with Sky Italia holding the majority interest. A meeting between Rupert Murdoch and Silvio Berlusconi took place at the end of April, according to the report, with Berlusconi’s sons Pier Silvio and Lachlan also attending. Mediaset owns 89 percent of Premium after it sold an 11 percent stake to Telefonica last year for EUR 100 million.
Any deal would have to be approved by Italy’s antitrust regulator AGCM, which has recently opened an investigation into possible collusion between Sky Italia and Mediaset regarding the acquisition of rights to broadcast Serie A football games.
