News Corp’s Cielo to get green light by end-2009

Italian undersecretary for telecommunications, Paolo Romani, has told local press that News Corp’s free-to-air Cielo channel will get governmental approval by the end of the year.

The launch of the channel has been delayed as Italian authorities consulted with the European Commission on whether News could launch the free-to-air channel given its ownership position in the Sky Italia pay-TV platform. It has now decided it can and will clear the way for the launch in the next couple of weeks.