Reuters: Regulatory News: Italy parliamentarians in revolt over TV regulator

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Italy parliamentarians in revolt over TV regulator May 25th 2012, 16:26 By James Mackenzie ROME | Fri May 25, 2012 12:26pm EDT ROME May 25 (Reuters) - Italy's parliamentarians staged a rare revolt this month that could overhaul the way the government appoints members of the telecoms and media regulator that oversees a sector long dominated by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The nomination of the president of the Agcom and its four commission members for seven-year terms, usually decided after a backroom deal between the main parties, has been delayed following demands by deputies for a more transparent appointment process. "The nominations are normally made in secret by the party leaderships. It's 'Let me have my man and I'll let you have yours'," Benedetto Della Vedova, a member of parliament for the small centre-right FLI party, told Reuters. "It needs to be much more transparent," he said. In theory an independent body with no legislative authority, Agcom's oversight function gives it a decisive say over television, the Internet and mobile communications, a portion of the economy accounting for 6 percent of gross domestic product. Its function is particularly sensitive in television, the main source of news for most Italians and a sector long dominated by state broadcaster RAI and Berlusconi's Mediaset network, Italy's biggest private broadcaster. The two groups together control some two thirds of the Italian television market, but are now facing increased competition from Sky Italia, the satellite unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. "For the past 20 years in Italy, we've had a situation you don't have in other countries, that is a crossover between political life and a big part of the television industry, so it's even more important," Della Vedova said. Parliament's vote to approve the candidates is now expected on June 6, after their curriculum vitae are submitted to deputies in advance. TRANSPARENCY The front runner for position of president of the authority is Angelo Marcello Cardani, a respected economics professor from Bocconi University in Milan who served with Prime Minister Mario Monti when he was European markets Commissioner in Brussels. But critics say the wider process of appointing commissioners and running the agency must change. "There has been a deficit of accountability in the authority up to now and I hope we can change that," said Stefano Quintarelli, an Internet activist and former head of the Association of Italian Internet Providers, who has put forward his own candidacy as Agcom head. He said the opaque method of party horse trading worked against attracting qualified, independent candidates with the capacity to stand up to powerful industry lobbies. Critics of Agcom have long complained that it tended to favour incumbents like RAI, Mediaset and Telecom Italia and was not prepared to handle the huge changes that have transformed the sector and which will accelerate in the age of the iPad. Italy lags the rest of Europe in broadband Internet connections, a delay which outgoing Agcom President Corrado Calabro said this month costs the Italian economy between 1 and 1.5 percent of gross domestic product a year. "I think the current method of selecting the authority was already wrong because of the lack of transparency and the way its internal workings encouraged decisions that weren't clear outside," Quintarelli said. "In a world that's accelerating to an absolutely monstrous degree and which will see dramatic change over the next 10 years, it's just not going to work at all." Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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