VAT doubles on Pay TV subscriptions, Sky disagrees
Sky Italia is harshly contesting the decision of the Italian government to double (to 20%) the VAT on Pay TV subscriptions. The satellite broadcaster belonging to Rupert Murdoch is the leader in the Italian market.
"The tax would hit a fifth of all Italian families right in the midst of an economic crisis,” said Tom Mockridge, CEO of Sky Italia, who adds that the overall increase will be €210m. According to Mockridge, the measure announced last Friday will strike one of the very few industries of the Italian economy, digital TV, that is continuing to grow. "We are preparing an ad campaign to warn our subscribers of the tax hike.”
The honeymoon between magnates Silvio Berlusconi and Murdoch seems over due to the Italian government’s anti-crisis measures. For the Italian president, "the left privileged television with regard to subscriptions, it had good relations with Sky. We’ve taken that privilege away and brought [Pay TV] to the same VAT level as everyone else,” thus also penalising Mediaset, the broadcaster that belongs to the Berlusconi family, which is also launching a Pay TV service.
(Translated from Italian)
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