15/12/2003

Independent producers may hand over the rights to their films to RAI and Mediaset, before offering them to the pay TV service Sky. This is the proposal that has been put forward at the "Il gusto degli altri" conference, organised by the API (the Italian Filmmakers' & Producers' Association) in Rome. "Sky refuses to deal with the confrontation, it has reduced investments in Italian cinema and it is abusing its dominant position", are the accusations made by the independent producers.

The Pay TV service owned by the Australian tycoon, Rupert Murdoch, was launched in Italy lat July, following the merger of Tele+ and Stream. At the end of August, the MD of Sky Italia, Tom Mockridge, announced an annual budget of more than €50m to invest in Italian cinema for purchases and co-productions. But in October, there was a climb-down on this: Sky will limit itself to buying rights from all producers. The Producers’ Union still hasn’t made any comment on the API proposal, but in January, it will be organising a conference to discuss the whole Italian cinematographic marketplace.

(Translated from Italian)