Canal Plus-owned Telepiu has pledged to increase its investment in Italian cinema from L60 billion (Euro 30 million) to L90 billion over the next two years.

A 1998 film financing agreement between the Italian government and Telepiu was renewed on April 6 by culture minister Giovanna Melandri and the presidents of Canal Plus and Telepiu, Pierre Lescure and Michel Thoulouze respectively. Telepiu, which claims 1,500,000 subscribers, will now step up its investment in co-production or pre-buys of Italian feature films, further extend it to shorts, and also earmark a higher sum for domestic documentaries. Under the previous two-year agreement with the government, Telepiu pre-bought rights to 67 Italian feature films, and co-financed 13 features produced with state subsidies. Canal Plus has also pledged to favour the broadcast of Italian films on its pay services Telepiu and D+, as well as on its other European pay-TV platforms.

Thoulouze noted that the primetime programming of documentaries has been a success with subscribers and that the network intends to continue the strategy.