Counteroffensive Mediaset on TV frequencies. The big snake appealed to the Lazio Regional Administrative Court against theor stop the beauty contest, the free assignment procedure to broadcasters established by the Berlusconi government. This was announced by the president of the group, Faithful Confalonieri, opening the company's meeting today. Meanwhile, Mediaset shares lose 0,87%.
Yesterday the House Finance Committee approved an amendment to the tax decree filed by the new Executive which imposes a public tender (for a fee) for the distribution of frequencies, now free after the transition from analogue to digital. Only the PDL and the Great South voted against.
"Will we participate in the auction? We still can't say. We'll see how Agcom regulates the auction”, Confalonieri said today, underlining how “the free beauty contest is the formula used in most of the other European countries. It was a legal procedure and shared by Europe. Mediaset has paid for all its frequencies, even Dvbh, today in the honor of the news as yet another gift. We have appealed against the suspension of the beauty contest".
According to the president of Mediaset, on the issue of frequencies “there was a bit of demagoguery: make the rich televisions pay for frequencies instead of reducing the incomes of citizens with new taxes".
Furthermore, "the controversy over free frequencies is instrumental. Calendar in hand, it began at the end of the summer, just as the procedure for assigning frequencies in the beauty contest was in its final stages. And it exploded after Sky announced her withdrawal from the race. We can already predict that even the auction will not put an end to the controversy over gifts, unless Mediaset is unjustly prevented from participating. Be sure – Confalonieri then said addressing the shareholders – that we will go ahead in any case to defend our rights”.
In any case, "Mediaset per se is not even remotely a company in crisis".
