Sportitalia

Sportitalia
Country	Italy
Programming
Picture format	16:9 SDTV
Ownership
Owner	Italian Sport Communication
History
Launched	6 February 2004
Links
Website	sportitalia.com
Availability
Terrestrial
Digital	DVB-T, LCN 60, Where available

Sportitalia is an Italian terrestrial and satellite television channel owned by Italian Sport Communication, specialized in sports broadcasting 24 hours a day. Sports broadcast include soccer, basketball, tennis, cycling, volley, motoristic sports, rugby, wrestling; information about other sports (winter sports, badminton, boxe, golf, surf, skate, swimming, boating, canoe/Kayak, American football, baseball and cricket) is also provided.

It is broadcast FTA on DTT in Italy channel 60 on Mux DFree, in HD in HbbTV mode and streaming. On 1 August 2020 Sportitalia 1, 2 and 24 returned on DTT in Italy in national free-on-air on Mux Dfree.

Story

The channel's origins stem after the decision of the Italian Competition Authority, an Italian organism that checks positions of privileges at favour of a firm, to subordinate the creation of SKY Italia to the transfer of the frequencies of the two analogue codified channels possessed by Tele+, Tele+Bianco and Tele+Nero.

The financier Tarak Ben Ammar bought the frequencies in collaboration with the satellite channel Eurosport. The frequencies became of property at 51% of the Holland Coordinator and Service, Tarak Ben Ammar's firm, and at 49% of the TF1 Group, principal commercial French TV channel, which also owns Eurosport. Subsequently, in 2004 Tarak Ben Ammar successfully lobbied the then Italian Communications Minister Maurizio Gasparri for a decree allowing him to convert the concessions from crypted TV to free TV: here, then, Sportitalia.

Seen the excellent share of the first 18 months of the channel, other two DTT channels were created: Si Live 24, an all sports news channels 24 hours a day, and Si Solo Calcio, an all soccer channel (both channels transmits some matches of "Serie B", the Italian Second Division, in exclusive, free with the DTT technology); Si Live 24 became first Sportitalia 24 and now Sportitalia 2, and Si Solo Calcio ended its transmissions.

Starting from 6 January 2006 Sportitalia entered in SKY Italia platform and from 16 May 2006 stopped the analogue transmissions.

From 01:00 AM to 07:00 AM (CET) Sportitalia simulcast NBA TV every night.^[1]