Mediaset launches new Premium Play service

Italian pay TV operator Mediaset has launched a new premium service that will allow customers to watch content on a wide range of devices.

The company has launched Mediaset Premium Play, which will allow its premium subs to watch up to 2,000 TV series and films through a digital-terrestrial television box with a decoder, through the Microsoft Xbox360 gaming console and through the internet. The service also allows customers to watch pay-per-view movies from a number of Hollywood studios including Warner Bros, Disney and NBC Universal, a few months after their theatrical debut. 
This follows successful pilots of its Premium OnDemand and Premium NetTV services. It will cost Mediaset premium subscribers €19 per month to subscribe to the service.

Separately, Mediaset chairmain Fedele Confalonieri, speaking at the Avignon Forum organised by the French presidency to coincide with the G8-G20 cultural summit, has endorsed French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s call for a tightening of measures to combat digital piracy. Confalieri said there should be a common framework at European level for Suppliers of content , regardless of the distribution platform. “It is only in this way, broadcasters and the major producers, that we can also guarantee the future survival of original content production,” he said. “And the reason is clear: new business models based on the exploitation of illegal content drives out resources for the development of the European audiovisual industry, precluding the possibility of financing original productions and new talent.”