WORLD PRESS TRENDS - World Association of Newspapers

ITALY
The older scheme for assisting newspapers to modernise has
been incorporated into the new system operated by the fund
for granting loans to publishing companies (Bill No.62, 7 March
2001). The bill introduced a credit tax of 3 per cent to help
publishing companies with new investments. Such a facility
relieves publishers of the initial cost of acquiring new plant and
machinery. It doesn’t include the cost of buildings to house the
plant concerned. The credit tax is distributed over a period of
five years, beginning from 2001.
One of the innovations introduced by Bill No.62 consists in two
systems for granting loans. The first one works automatically
for loans not exceeding 516,000 Euros, concerning investments
to be carried out over two years. A government committee will
grant the loan, after merely establishing that the application
was made correctly. The second one is a valuation system for
loans of between Euro 516,000 and Euro 15.5 million. In this
case the committee not only checks that the application is valid
but must also assess the financial, technical and economic
soundness of the investment plan.
Discounts
on:
post 35-45% rail 0
telephone 50% telegraph 0
telex 0
Newspapers with ad content of 45% or less may claim the 35-
45% discount from postal rates, determined by weight.
Ownership
Does any law exist governing publishing-house ownership, or the
registration of shares in newspaper-publishing companies Yes,
individuals and corporations have to register their newspaper
interests. Magazines with five or more full-time journalists and
more than 12 issues a year count as newspapers for these
purposes.
Is there any law prohibiting or restricting foreign companies or
individuals from owning shares, and in particular, the majority of
shares, of domestic daily newspapers No restriction on EU
countries. Reciprocal arrangements apply to some other
countries.
Is there any law prohibiting daily newspaper or periodical publishers
from operating radio or television stations in the same locality Daily
newspaper publishing companies with more than 16% of the
national circulation may not be licensed to own national TV
stations. Circulation between 8% and 16% allows one national
TV station. Under 8% allows two licences.
Law 249, passed on July 1997, has provided, as a general rule,
that no one may control more than 20% of all mass media
resources. “Mass media resources” means all revenue coming
from sales of daily newspapers and periodicals, sales or
exploitation of audio-visual products, subscriptions to dailies,
periodicals, radio and TV stations, advertising (including
sponsorship and telemarketing), licence-fees and regular public
subsidies, and electronic publishing for household consumption.
So as to guarantee disclosure and transparency in the capital structure
and to avert silent partnerships, is there a law or rule making it possible
to determine who actually owns a publishing company Law 416
(Article 1) provides that daily newspapers must be owned only
by individuals, private unlimited partnerships, limited
partnerships (non-stock corporations) and public corporations.
Voting shares or partnership of a publishing house may be
registered under the name of another company only if the
majority of the voting shares of this other company are registered
under the name of individuals or companies quoted on the stock
exchange, whose identity is thus a matter of public record.
Is there an antitrust law limiting concentration in the daily press
Law 416 (Article 4) specifically limits daily press concentration
to 20% of all circulation, or 50% in one of Italy’s four large
(‘macro’) regions, or half of titles in one of the 21 smaller regions.
(The latter rule obviously does not apply if there is only one
title.) Any purchase (or equivalent) which breaches these limits
is liable to be declared void in court, but the limits may be
exceeded in the normal course of organic business growth.
Is further regulation of media concentration expected A new
proposal for changing broadcasting legislation has been put
forward by the government on September 2002. The proposal
is now under active consideration in the Italian Parliament.
According to the proposal, public-service broadcasting should
continue and should be the responsibility of the Communication
Authority, which would ensure that the public services are
conducted in accordance with the requirements and objectives
of the law. The state-owned public broadcaster RAI should be
transformed into a private company licensed to broadcast
public-service television. The licence should be granted for 12
years.
The proposal provides rules limiting concentration in the so
called “integrated communication system”, strengthening the
power of Communication Authority in controlling abuses of
dominance in the media and communication industries. In a
case of breach of the rules governing competition and
concentration, the Authority would be able to impose conditions
to abolish the dominant position. As a general rule, a single
company would not be allowed to collect revenue exceeding
20% of all resources of the “integrated communication system”.
The new proposal would also abolish any specific limit on
newspaper shareholdings in television companies.
WORLD ASSOCIATION OF NEWSPAPERS - WORLD PRESS TRENDS 2003 159