Communications Regulatory Authority

On the other hand, satellite operators have focused on offerings that exploit the
almost complete digitalization of their subscriber base: the differentiation of the
television product has thus centred on the digital quality of the signal or on DVR
services. Moreover, the prices of the offerings of the satellite pay-TV services packages
have been lowered, also to compensate for the current difficulty, owing to technological
limits, of offering Video on Demand services. In this regard, VoD offerings are being
studied that would use hybrid set-top boxes connected to the broadband networks of
telecommunications operators.
As for the new media, worthy of note is the launch of the IPTV services, which
still account for a marginal share of the total pay-TV service subscribers: approximately
180,000 users at the end of 2005, totally attributable to the recent start-up of the Verizon
offering, which will be followed by that of AT&T (Lightspeed project, cf. paragraph
1.1.1.). In spite of the huge financial investments made by the telecommunication
operators, it is expected that in 2009 IPTV service subscribers will still be a minor
component of the total digital television subscribers: 6%, with around 5 million users,
Lastly, on the regulatory front, it is necessary to report the decision of the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) not to appeal the sentence of the Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit of Philadelphia, which, in 2004, had passed a negative
judgement against the new rules introduced by the FCC itself on the subject of
ownership of mass communication media. These rules would have eased the limits in
force on the ownership of television, radio, and newspapers, eliminating the ban against
possession by a single company of a newspaper and radio and television broadcasting
companies in the same geographic market.
The television sector in Western Europe
Last year the European television sector (Figure 1.14.) reached a total value of
approximately 80 billion euro, with a steady growth of 7.6%, higher than that registered
in 2004 (6%).
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