Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset Italia has made its official debut in Romania.
Speaking at an opening ceremony in Bucharest organised by Chello Networks and quoted in the local press, Paola de Santiago Haas, project manager at Mediaset Distribution, said that Mediaset Italia brings together the three main Mediaset channels – Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete 4 – currently shown in Italy.
Programmes are being offered in Italian rather than dubbed or subtitled as most are broadcast live. Chello Networks, which is part of Chello Central Europe, has the exclusive rights to Mediaset Italia in Romania.
Mediaset Italia already has carriage on the cable networks NextGen, Canal S, Ines Group and TV Sat 2002 and Chello Networks is hoping to extend this to further platforms.
Mediaset’s channels were briefly available in Romania in the 1990s and Mediaset has been actively looking at launching Mediaset Italia in the country for over two years.
Mediaset Italia is available in several European countries though has its widest distribution in the US.