Following the recent launch of a pay-TV channel dedicated to the Milan club, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has come up with the idea of a launching a satellite channel dedicated to the Italian national team. FIGC said that “the launch of a thematic channel is one of the many [potential projects] we are working on”. However, FIGC said the broadcast TV rights of the national team’s matches (to which RAI has exclusive rights) would not be affected. Reactions have been mixed, with criticism coming from RAI, whose president Roberto Zaccaria believes the project will be entrusted to Milan-based Media Partners, whose shareholders include ex-Mediaset executives. Zaccaria regretted that RAI, which paid FIGC L200 billion (Euro 100 million) for the rights to air five games a year until 2003, has been excluded from this new initiative.