MediaForEurope has announced plans for a single online video platform across its European markets by combining technology developed by its Italian and German businesses. The consolidated platform will continue to support national markets but aims to provide competition to global players like Netflix.
MFE, formerly known as Mediaset Group, runs television businesses in Italy and Spain and has its Infinity online service there. Last year it took control of German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1, which has developed the Joyn online platform.
The company will combine these to build a single platform for the countries in which it operates, with the rollout planned for January 2027.
“The front end will be the Italian one, while the supporting technology will be the German one,” Pier Silvio Berlusconi, the chief executive of MFE and son of the late Italian Prime Minister, said at a media event at the company headquarters in Milan.
The strategy for MFE is to consolidate local European broadcasters into a unified, independent broadcasting hub, while preserving local, original entertainment and live programming tailored to individual national audiences.
“We are not an international fast-food chain,” he said. “We cook up live programmes designed for individual countries. We have to do that with products that are born on television and then move on to digital platforms.”
MFE is a European group with interests spanning free and pay television, radio, film, and online platforms. In Italy it owns Mediaset, which operates major national networks including Italia 1, Rete 4, and Canale 5. In Spain it owns Grupo Audiovisual Mediaset España, which runs channels like Cuatro and Telecinco. It also has a stake in the Portuguese media group Impresa. It now has a 75% stake in ProSiebenSat.1 Media, which operates in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.