Antenna Group prepares Italian video company
Jamie Angus (former BBC and Al Arabiya Network) and Gianluca Foschi (former La7) are working on the new activity. The group aims at an agreement with Warner Bros Discovery for an Italian CNN
Antenna Group accelerates the Italian game and prepares the creation of a company in Italia. Not just any box, but the legal entity under which should fall the video activities of the Greek group, owner of la Repubblica, radio stations and other Gedi activities with the exception of La Stampa, which went to Alberto Leonardis's Sae.
The practice, according to Sole 24 Ore, is reportedly at an advanced stage. Antenna is working with professional firms in Milan to close the last corporate and tax aspects. This is a sign that the dossier is no longer an editorial suggestion, but an operational building site.
Jamie Angus, an English consultant with a past at the BBC and the Al Arabiya Network, has been moving around that site for months. Together with Angus there is also the Italian Gianluca Foschi, former manager of La7 Italia, where he was deputy director and followed programming and purchasing.
A first piece should be put in place soon: on 8 June, before the start of the World Cup on 11 June, the announcement of the deal with Dazn Italia for the creation of an integrated information proposal on the sports platform led in Italia by Stefano Azzi could arrive: a daily news bulletin packaged by Antenna, with direct editorial responsibility of the Greek group and a language consistent with Dazn's digital consumption. Short news, app-like rhythm, focus on young audiences. For Dazn it would be a way to lengthen the time users spend on the app, transforming the platform from a match venue to an information environment. For Antenna it would be the first Italia test-bed: a product light in form, but heavy in meaning.
The most ambitious project, however, remains another: the Italian CNN. As anticipated by the Sole 24 Ore of 21 May, Antenna's goal is to build an all news channel under the Cnn brand for Italia. Negotiations are ongoing with Warner Bros Discovery, led in the country by Alessandro Araimo. The model would have immediate strength: a global brand, an Italian newsroom.
