Netflix in Italy: Emerging competitors and legal implications of the changing TV and film industry
Written By
Gian Marco Rinaldi looks at the changing film and TV industry in Italy: the rising competitors and the potential impact on competition law and contract negotiations.
Potential competitors
1. Amazon’s Prime Video
Research conducted by Comparitech in 2018 has analysed the cost of Amazon Prime Video in all countries in the world where its services are available. Comparing the overall cost per month of Amazon Prime Video around the world, the analysis shows that Italy is the sixth cheapest place for consumers to get Amazon Prime Video.
2. Chili
Chili was founded in June 2012 in Milan (Italy) as a transactional platform that allows customers to watch on demand (TVOD) movies and TV series. Since its success in Italy, Chili has extended its offer to Austria, Poland, Germany and the United Kingdom. In addition to the entry of Torino 1895 Investimenti S.p.A. in 2017, among the shareholders there are also many famous US Companies, such as Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Viacom, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox (from March 2018). Chili allows its users the single purchase of TV series and movies. Unlike Netflix which provides for the subscription, Chili allows users to rent or purchase individually the titles the customer wants to watch. The arrival of Netflix was seen with positively by Chili’s previous CEO, Mr. Stefano Parisi, who considered the arrival of Netflix in Italy as a possible boost for the video on-demand market.
