ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the development of digital television in Italy and examines how government policies, market forces, and demand factors are shaping the current restructuring of the Italian broadcasting industry. The Italian case is particularly well suited to discuss the opportunities and challenges that the transition to digital television presents to European market actors and policymakers in a context of rapid technological change and global industry consolidation. In particular, it clearly illustrates the changing location of the key industry bottlenecks in the digital television environment, and the new opportunities for strategic action by incumbent operators. As we shall see, the major commercial and regulatory battles associated with the development of digital television in Italy have been about control of soccer television rights and of technical standards for digital set-top boxes between vertically integrated operators. This case also constitutes a perfect scenario to study the evolution of the television industry in countries characterised by dual public-private broadcasting systems. Whether the transition to digital television will reshape the Italian broadcasting industry by reducing barriers to entry and democratising infrastructure access, or simply extend the existing duopoly structure into the digital era, largely depends on the outcome of the commercial and regulatory battles now unfolding.
