Mediaset channels return to Sky Italia

Italian broadcaster Mediaset’s channels have returned to pay TV operator Sky Italia’s platform after an absence of three and a half years following last year’s wide-ranging agreement between the pair to collaborate in pay TV.

Mediaset’s free-to-air networks Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete 4 and thematic channels Canale 20, La5, Mediaset Extra, Italia Due, Top Crime, Iris and Focus are now available to Sky Italia customers.

Mediaset originally  pulled its channels from the Sky platform after the pair failed to agree on retransmission fees.

Mediaset and Sky struck a wide-ranging agreement last April that saw Sky agree to make Mediaset Premium channels available to its satellite customers, along with a raft of on-demand content. The agreement also saw the pair collaborate closely in digital-terrestrial transmission, with the creation of a combined DTT offering.

The deal also included an option for Mediaset to sell its pay TV platform to Mediaset, something that it chose to exercise at the end of last year in a deal that saw Sky take over R2, the that controls the technical platform for pay TV service Mediaset Premium, with Mediaset retaining control of its premium channel offering and customer base.