TMC TO BECOME LA7

Italy will get a new TV channel on June 24 thanks to the acquisition of a 75 per cent stake in broadcaster TeleMonteCarlo (TMC) by Seat Pagine Gialle (part of the Telecom Italia group). La7 (The Seventh) will initially air an experimental summer schedule, with the full launch effective from September. The new owners aim to increase both the audience share (from 2 to 5 per cent) and advertising revenue – from L150 billion to L600 billion – E77.5 million to E310 million – over the coming three years. La7, whose target audience will be the 12-35 age group, claims that 75 per cent of programming will be produced in-house and has set aside L300 billion for that purpose. Although the station’s signal can be received only by 75-78 per cent of households, the goal is to increase the figure to 98 per cent.