Italy

[IT] Integration of the Television Frequency Plan

IRIS 1999-8:1/11

Maja Cappello

Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni (AGCOM)

Pursuant to Law no. 78/99 (see IRIS 1999-4: 8), on 14 July 1999 the Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (Italian regulatory authority in the communications sector, hereinafter AGC) completed the national television frequency plan by passing Regulation no. 105/99 ( Integrazione del Piano nazionale di assegnazione delle frequenze per la radiodiffusione televisiva) The main structure of the plan (so-called 1 Level Plan) was defined by the AGC on 30 October 1998 by Regulation no. 68/98 (see IRIS 1998-10: 12). The so-called 2 Level Plan («Plan»), adopted in July 1999, defines the relevant areas for local broadcasting more or less according to Italy's geographic division into provinces. For this purpose, the Plan assigns new resourcesthat is, new sites each comprising a certain number of installations. Each installation will serve one frequency channel. A broadcaster applying for a concession will be assigned the required number of installations according to the geographic coverage envisaged. In particular, the Plan specifies 8124 installations with power higher than 200 watt distributed throughout Italy. Further installations with lower power may be assigned in the future. Even if several local operators have already notified their intention to apply for a local broadcasting concession, the details of the exact number of local broadcasters that will be granted frequencies through concessions will only be possible when all applications have actually been submitted. Meanwhile the AGC has outlined three different hypotheses according to which the number of local broadcasters respectively amounts to 874, 1758, and 1824.