Telecom Italia Reaches Internet-TV Deal With Sky

Telecom Italia, the country’s largest phone company, is teaming with Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Italia for an Internet-television service to attract broadband subscriptions, giving consumers an alternative to satellite TV.

Starting in 2015, Telecom Italia clients with a My Sky HD decoder will have access to all of Sky’s TV programs over the Web, the companies said in a joint statement. Sky offers about 180 channels and programs including Formula 1, MotoGP and soccer’s Champions League. Telecom Italia’s mobile-phone customers can also watch Sky TG24 all-news channel on their smartphones and tablets.

Telecom Italia Chief Executive Officer Marco Patuano, accelerating his efforts to revive the indebted former phone monopoly, is adding services in a bid to boost phone bills as competition hurts margins in Italy’s saturated market. A broadband pay-TV service may shake up the Italian TV and video market -- the country doesn’t have major cable carriers. “Phone carriers need to enter the game of entertainment to renew their business,” said Francesco Siliato, a professor who specializes in media and telecommunications at Milan’s Politecnico University. “At the same time, TV broadcasters need new partners to spread out contents via the Internet.”