Italy’s free-to-air satellite platform Tivù Sat says television and receiver manufacturers have now ordered 790,000 cards, an increase of 390,000 on figures given in early December.
However, the actual number of cards activated stands at 150,000, with new cards being activated at the rate of between 1,300 and 1,500 a day. At the same time pay-TV platform Sky Italia has seen subscriber numbers stagnate during 2009, falling by 63,000 to 4,750,000 at the end of December, though ARPU has been maintained.
Around 40 channels are now available as part of the Mediaset-RAI-Telecom Italia package. Recent additions include the motorsport channel Nuvolari, music channel Deejay TV, news channels Canal 24 Horas and Al Jazeera, and the French generalist channel TV5 Monde.