Wildside (owned by Fremantle), Cattleya (backed by ITV Studios), Lucisano Media Group, Palomar and Indiana Production. Since the beginning of August 2019, Universal Pictures, Sky's corporate cousin via NBCUniversal, handles theatrical distribution for Vision's releases in Italy. On 20 January 2020, Vision launched their own international sales arm, Vision Distribution International. Since October 2018, Sky Italia, as well as Sky UK, Sky Ireland and Sky Deutschland, is controlled by Comcast. On 1 October 2019, Maximo Ibarra replaces Andrea Zappia as CEO. Maximo Ibarra however left Sky Italia already on 30 June 2021. On 16 June 2020, Sky Italia launched Sky Wifi, its ultra-broadband service. On 6 September 2021 Andrea Duilio Started as the new CEO of Sky Italia. Timeline 1998 December: Miro Allione, Stream's CEO, stated that News Corp signed a preliminary deal with Telecom Italia to buy 80% of Stream, but the introduction of a bill limiting the acquisition of soccer pay TV rights has made the company reconsider its plans. 1999 April: 35% of Stream is acquired by News Corp. 2002 June: TelePiù is acquired by News Corp. 2003 March: the European Commission approves the merger between TELE+ and Stream TV. 31 July: Sky Italia is founded. At the same day, Sky TG24 is launched as a rolling news channel. 2004 April: Sky Italia abandons SECA encryption system to switch to the NDS, managed by the News Corporation. 1 August: Sky launches weather news channel, Sky Meteo 24. November: Sky's subscribers reach 3 million. 2005 May: Sky Italia are awarded the broadcast rights to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. November: Sky Italia launches the My Sky decoder with PVR functionality. 2006 May: Sky launches its first high definition channels: Sky Cinema HD, Sky Sport HD, National Geographic Channel HD and Next:HD. December: Sky's subscribers reach 4 million. 2007 April: Fox airs the first TV drama created by an Italian pay television channel, Boris. May: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for Formula One for two and a half years. May: Cooltoon anime programming is launched. November: A selection of Sky channels become available via IPTV on Telecom Italia, Fastweb and Wind. 2008 February: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the 2012 Summer Olympics. May: Sky launches My Sky HD. 30 August: Sky launches sport news channel, Sky Sport 24. December: VAT on subscriptions is increased from 10% to 20%. 2009 January: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights