Finally, Netflix arrived in Italy. The online service was made available from midnight of the last Wednesday and offers three price plans, including the first month for free, for Italian subscribers.
As most of you already know, Netflix is a service available on several devices, such as computers, tablets, consoles, smartphones or smart televisions, and it is offered at a lower prices than the options provided by traditional TV providers. Moreover, Netflix distributes its products in a different way than traditional TV through the use of the Internet, and it also provides original contents that are available just on this platform.
Therefore, this service will provide tough competition to well-established and more expensive Italian competitors such as Mediaset and Sky Italia, both of which have recently launched their own on-demand streaming services. In specific, these on-demand streaming services, which are named respectively Infinity and Sky Online, were created by these companies in order to contrast the arrival of Netflix in Italy. These companies have often affirmed that there is an exaggerated emphasis around Netflix while the latter seems that do not want to enter in conflict with the competitors. These different approaches with the media are shown by the following interviews.
Different PR approaches.
During the presentation of Netflix to the Italian press, Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of the company, affirmed that: "Our target in Italy is to reach a family out of three. In America, it took us seven years to reach a family out of three, from 2007 to 2014, and we are doing it also in other European countries where we arrived earlier than in Italy. It 's very easy to grow during the first year and we are very careful in this time, where we especially focus on subscribers’ happiness which allows for new subscriptions." 
From Sky Italy side, in an interview released on Tuesday, October 22, the long-awaited day of the arrival in Italy of Netflix, Andrea Zappia who is the managing director of Sky Italy, commented the entrance of this new competitor in the Italian market. He said that he absolutely "not worried" and then, referring to news media, he added: "You describe it as the most extraordinary TV innovation”. Regarding the new competitor, he said: “I have an extraordinary respect for their work. They are not good, very good. However, it is a bit old service in Italy. We now have 2 million 800 thousand households that use the Internet content. The difference with Netflix is that we have much newer and richer content. So, Netflix is welcome. It is present in all countries where Sky compete and they do well, but it certainly is not a revolution, nor worries us."
Reactions on Social Media
On one hand, many people on Facebook and Twitter showed support for Netflix and its project which can be profitable for the Italian entertainment industry. Moreover, they also appreciated that the company really focuses on customers’ happiness.
On the other hand, many users of social media saw Zappia’s statements about the fake innovation represented by Netflix as a sign of greediness and fear. In specific, they pointed out the fact that Sky and Mediaset are using any strategy to undermine Netflix success in Italy (i.e. statements against Netflix; the creation of streaming services similar to Netflix).
Since social media do not represent the whole picture, how do you think Sky customers interpret the statements of the managing director of the company? And do you think that Netflix should enter in this PR conflict with its competitors?
Alessio Maggiore
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