GECs
Italian parliament passes TV modernisation bill
ROME: The lower house of the Italian parliament passed a fiercely contested bill intended to modernise television and create more choice on the Italian airwaves.
A New York Times (NYT) report also states that the opposition criticised the move as prime minister Silvio Berlusconi owns the country’s largest private television network and indirectly controls 92 per cent of Italy’s public broadcasting channels. However, the opposition gathered votes to amend the bill and limit its scope, it says.
The NYT report states that the bill proposed to quicken the country’s path to digital television; overturned a law ready to go into effect at the end of the year banning ownership of more than two non cable television channels; and eased restrictions on crossover media acquisitions. The owners of television networks, like the prime minister, could have bought newspapers and raised ceilings on advertising revenues.
The detractors passed an amendment that extracts the bill’s teeth and ensured that it would impose the limit of two on the number of channels any company may own and would block the other changes. So instead of potentially broadening his Mediaset television empire, Berlusconi may be forced to unload one of his three private channels, says the NYT report.
Conflict-of-interest accusations have hounded “tycoon prime minister” Berlusconi since he took office in 2001. Mediaset’s competitor is RAI and it is not percived to be much of a threat.
GECs
EPIC Company unifies all brands under single EPIC identity
IN10 Media rebrand aligns TV, digital and films into one ecosystem
MUMBAI: The EPIC Company, formerly known as IN10 Media Network, has announced a sweeping brand consolidation, bringing its television channels, digital platforms and content IPs under a single identity, EPIC.
The move is aimed at simplifying the company’s structure while creating a more connected content ecosystem spanning television, digital and films. By aligning multiple verticals under one umbrella, the company is looking to present a sharper, more cohesive face to both audiences and partners.
As part of the transition, several channels have been rebranded to align with the EPIC identity. EPIC will now operate as EPIC TV, while Nazara becomes EPIC Bharat, Filamchi is now EPIC Bhojpuri, Gubbare transitions to EPIC Kids, and ShowBox is reintroduced as EPIC Music. Ishara will continue under the identity EPIC Parivaar, maintaining its core positioning.
The company has also refreshed EPICON, its streaming platform, to reflect a more unified and modern brand experience. The overhaul is designed to improve content discovery and create a seamless experience across platforms.
This consolidation follows the recent launch of EPIC Studio, a unified production arm that brings together Juggernaut Productions and MovieVerse Studio, as the company expands its footprint across films, OTT and television.
The EPIC Company managing director Aditya Pittie said, “As our scale has grown, it has become important to simplify how we operate and how we present ourselves to the ecosystem. This consolidation gives us a clearer, more future-ready structure to partner, invest, and build at scale, while ensuring that for viewers, the experience is more seamless and intuitive.”
With the rebrand, The EPIC Company is positioning itself as a platform-agnostic content network, focused on scale, simplicity and integrated storytelling. By bringing everything under one banner, it is aiming to make its content universe easier to navigate and harder to ignore.
