Brussels, 28/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Court of Justice of the EU confirmed on 28 July that subsidies granted by Italy to consumers in 2004 and 2005 for purchasing or hiring digital terrestrial decoders constitute discriminatory state aid and must be repaid. The Court confirms every point of the General Court's ruling of 15 June 2010 and dismisses Mediaset SpA's appeal against that ruling, which upheld a decision taken by the Commission in February 2007. At the time, the Commission had ordered recovery of the Italian subsidies as it took the view that: - they were not proportionate to the objective of shifting from analogous to digital television; - they were discriminatory with regard to competition as, being applied solely to digital terrestrial decoders, they were not technologically neutral and promoted digital terrestrial decoders and cable operators providing pay services at the expense of satellite technology. When Mediaset referred the matter to the General Court, the latter confirmed this decision, considering that such subsidies had allowed terrestrial broadcasters, including Mediaset, to consolidate their market position compared to new competitors. Mediaset then appealed to the Court of Justice, which confirms every aspect of the judgement (for further details see EUROPE 10160). (F.G./transl.jl)