The Sportitalia channels will stop broadcasting on Friday "after nine years on the air," according to Branislav Pekic of ADVANCED TELEVISION. Founded in '04, the TV sports network of French-Tunisian businessman Tarak Ben Ammar "was present on DTT with three channels -- Sportitalia 1, Sportitalia 2 and Sportitalia 24." In protest, journalists "have proclaimed a two-day strike, because as many as 35 of them have no certainty for the future." The fate of Sportitalia was already marked since July 29, when the Sportitalia channels "were auctioned and bought by Rome-based thematic channel producer LT Multimedia, whose portfolio includes the channels Nuvolari, Marcopolo, Alice, Leonardo and Arturo." In unison with the closure of Sportitalia, Italian media group LT Media "plans to launch three sports channels (LT Sport 1-3) that will seek to replace the defunct broadcaster." The first channel "will be dedicated to football, the second to Olympic sports and the third to motor sports." Initially, the new channels "will be available only on satellite" (ADVANCED TELEVISION, 10/31).
