Berlusconi is 'blocking TV info' says Soros

[khurramdar]

Berlusconi is 'blocking TV info' says Soros     
Written by Chris Forrester  
Sunday, 14 March 2010 10:31
berlusconiSilvio Berlusconi’s (left) iron grip on Italy’s broadcasting is limiting the public’s access to information, says a pressure group linked to billionaire George Soros.

The Soros-backed Open Society Justice Initiative made the allegation in a filing to the European Court of Human Rights and in support of a complaint from Italian TV company Centro Europa 7.

Europa 7 filed its complaint to the human rights court in 2009, saying it has been unfairly blocked from operating a national network. It claims that it has been awarded “unsuitable” frequencies taken from RAI in 2008, after Europe’s top court ruled it had been wrongly blocked from broadcasting rights it won in 1999.

Europa 7 was formed in 1997, but has been stymied in its broadcasting plans because the frequencies formally assigned to it were being used by Rete 4, owned by Mediaset, which is controlled by Berlusconi family interests. Rete 4 disputes this. Europa 7 also broadcasts on satellite.

© Rapid TV News 2010