Italian minister for communications Paolo Gentiloni has called on publishers to develop new TV channels to help drive the country’s digital switchover process. He told the conference that there remained several difficulties before Italy reached its target.
“We started in Sardina, where through local trials, the addition of new channels proved successful,” said Gentiloni. “We are now working to establish this in other regions, but we have to wait until the law is passed, and this is currently under discussion in parliament”. He added that once the law had completed its process it would be possible to decide on the dates when transmissions could begin.
“Local administrations and the major publishers are engaged in this process, but what we need is the tender of programmes for which I hope we will have the collaboration of RAI, Mediaset and Telecom Italia Media,” said Gentiloni. “But we won’t be able to achieve this at the required speed without interest from new channels.”