Digital television in Iitaly: From analogue to digital duopoly?

This study aims at unveiling the difficult transition to digital terrestrial television (DTT) in Italy. After sketching the theoretical framework, the article focuses on how the Italian government, communications regulatory authority AGCOM and the European Commission (EC) have shaped the current digital framework in Italy. The findings indicate that Italian DTT policies are deeply rooted within their national context and that Italian policy-makers failed to secure a solution to the abiding lack of pluralism of the Italian broadcasting market. During the transitory period, the Digital Broadcasting Act of 2001 gave the two main broadcasters – RAI and Mediaset – an unfair advantage in experimenting digital terrestrial transmissions as well as trading for frequencies and installations. Likewise, the more recent new final National Plan for the allocation of frequencies does not seem to guarantee a plurality of operators in the new digital market.