Group takes Berlusconi to rights court on TV control

Italy's Prime Minister and President of the Popolo della Liberta (People of Freedom) party Silvio Berlusconi speaks during a news conference at the party headquarters in downtown Rome March 10, 2010.

ROME (Reuters) - A pro-democracy institute founded by billionaire financier George Soros filed a brief to the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday saying Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's grip on Italian TV was undemocratic.

The Open Society Justice Initiative said it was intervening in a long-running legal battle by broadcaster Centro Europa 7, which alleges that successive governments withheld its operating frequency for nearly a decade after it won a TV operating license in 1999.

Europa 7 argues that its frequencies were unlawfully given to Rete 4, part of Berlusconi's Mediaset group, which did not initially have a concession but later had its provisional licenses formalized by his government.

A spokeswoman for Mediaset, which controls Italy's three largest private channels, was not available for comment. It has said in the past that Europa 7, founded by Italian businessman Francesco Di Stefano, has no right to its frequencies.

"This case highlights the failure of successive Italian governments to deal with the twin problems of concentrated control and conflict of interest in broadcasting," said James A. Goldston of the Open Society Justice Initiative.

"The Italian situation is unacceptable for a democracy and we are calling on the European Court to uphold the principles of media pluralism," Goldston said in a statement. The court could produce a ruling in the next few months, he told Reuters.

The Open Society Justice Initiative, part of Soros' Open Society Institute which aims to promote democratic values, said it was offering its opinion in the case by Europa 7 before the European court as a third party acting in the public interest.

BERLUSCONI DENIES CONFLICT

In 2004, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament condemned the conflict of interest between Berlusconi's media interests and his political responsibilities in government.

However, 73-year-old Berlusconi, returned to power by a landslide in April 2008 after 20 months in opposition, has always denied this. His business interests do not contravene Italy's 2004 laws on media ownership and conflict of interest.

Critics say these laws, drafted by Berlusconi's previous government and which raised the limit of media ownership, were tailor-made to suit him. A leftist government elected in 2006 aimed to amend the legislation but fell apart before it could.

Italy has Europe's most concentrated media sector: Mediaset controls the largest three of the four private analog TV channels. State broadcaster Rai, whose board is controlled by Berlusconi supporters, has three analog channels.

"This lack of diversity can stifle debate and limit the public's access to information and critical perspectives," Goldston said.

In 1999, Italian authorities granted Centro Europa 7 a license to operate a national television station but failed to offer it an actual operating frequency until December 2008.

The frequency should have been relinquished under national anti-trust law by the Mediaset Group, the Open Society said.

Centro Europa 7 claims the frequency it was granted in 2008 was carved out of RAI's existing frequencies and is unsuitable for operating a national television network across Italy.

A 2008 ruling by the European Court of Justice -- the highest court for European Union law -- found that the allocation of frequencies in Italy to a limited number of incumbents breached the freedom to provide TV services.