- Distribution agreement with Mediapool allows Unitymedia to provide the most comprehensive Italian channel line-up ever
- Mediaset shows the best of Italian channels Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete 4
Cologne/ Hamburg, September 14, 2010 – Unitymedia, second largest cable operator in Germany, launches a new Mediaset TV channel as of October 1st as part of its comprehensive Italian programme package “DigitalTV ITALIA”. “Mediaset” is the first international TV channel of the leading Italian commercial TV group. Unitymedia has licensed Mediaset from Mediapool, Hamburg, the leading content aggregator for international programmes in Germany.
Under this agreement the best of Italian TV entertainment, including the most popular shows from Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete 4, will be available to Unitymedia's cable households in Northrhine-Westfalia and Hesse for the first time.
Benjamin Krell, Programme Manager international TV, at Unitymedia commented: “Italian programmes are highly in demand – not only by our Italian customers, but also by many Germans who love the Italian language and Italian lifestyle. Our programme offering "DigitalTV ITALIA" already included Rai Uno, Rai Due, Rai Tre, Euronews Italian, Rai Radio and Radio Italia. However, the popular commercial TV programmes by the Mediaset group were still on top of our customers’ wish list. Our agreement with Mediapool now puts us in the excellent position to provide the most comprehensive Italian TV and radio line-up ever to our customers.“
Patricio Teubal, Head of Sales, Mediaset Distribution, commented: “We are very happy to have come to an agreement, through Mediapool, with Unitymedia, one of Europe’s leading cable operators. This is an excellent sign for the success of our new international offering moving forward.“
Ralf Heublein, Managing Director of Mediapool, added: “We have been in talks with Unitymedia about a Mediaset content offering for quite some time. So we are more than pleased to see our efforts coming to fruition today with this groundbreaking agreement.”
Further details on the enlarged Italian programme offering will be announced by Unitymedia in the next weeks.
About Mediapool
Mediapool Content Services, the leading content aggregator for foreign language TV programmes in Germany, is represented with more than 50 international channels on German cable- and IPTV platforms. Mediapool provides foreign language programmes to German cable operators since 2001. In addition Mediapool holds a broadcast licence for its own foreign language channel package „International TV“. Key target groups of “International TV“ are immigrants living in Germany, but also cosmopolitan Germans interested in cultivating their language skills.
About Mediaset
Mediaset is Italy’s leading media group and one of the world’s top companies in the industry. Mediaset Group was founded almost thirty years ago by Mr. Silvio Berlusconi and is today owned by his family’s Fininvest Group. Employing almost 6.000 people and listed on the Milan stock exchange, Mediaset’s core business is media and entertainment, boasting 14 TV channels - ranging from free-to-air analogue and digital television to pay, pay-per-view, web and mobile TV - to production subsidiaries operating in television and cinema. International assets in the industry include ownership of Endemol International, TV channels in Spain, Tunisia, the U.S., and more.
The holding group Fininvest, in addition to media, covers a wide range of successful activities from advertising, publishing, banking and insurance to world-famous soccer team A.C. Milan, with an estimated overall value of around €6 billion, revenues of more than €5,5 billion and approximately 20,000 employees.
About Mediaset Italia
Mediaset Italia is a new linear channel offering the best of Mediaset’s programming a few hours/days after airing on its mainstream national TV channels (Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete 4). The channel is targeted to the 60M Italians living around the world and to the people who love Italy, its culture and its beauty. The programming schedule offers all the key prime time Mediaset programs and all the best of its general entertainment, fiction, fun, news, and soft news coming from the three mainstream TV channels.
About Unitymedia
Unitymedia is the second largest cable operator in Germany and a subsidiary of Liberty Global, Inc. We provide analogue and digital cable television services as well as Internet and telephony services to our customers who reside in our upgraded network area in the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse. As of 30 June 2010, Unitymedia had approximately 4.5 million video subscribers (including 1.45 million digital video revenue generating units (RGUs), 682,000 Internet RGUs and 682,000 telephony RGUs) over a broadband communications network that passed approximately 8.8 million homes. More information on Unitymedia can be found at http://www.unitymedia.de.
