The funeral of Giuliano Berretta, Eurovisioni´s honored chairman and former president and CEO of Eutelsat between 1998 and 2004, recognized by all as one of the architects of the success of the European space industry, was held at the Verano Cemetery in Rome, in the space of the Egyptian Temple.
Eurovisioni was represented by its SG Giacomo Mazzone (on behalf of the president, Michel Boyon), and several members of its Steering Committee and partners such as Erik Lambert, Paolo Dalla Chiara and Duilio Giammaria.
Giovanni Celsi, Stefania Rifiordi, Giacomo Mazzone, Erik Lambert, Duilio Giammaria, Paolo Dalla Chiara
Friends of Eurovisioni remember with affection and gratitude Giuliano Berretta above all for having strongly believed in the possibility of building a European space of the media industry closely linked to that of telecommunications, a strategic vision that naturally led him to be one of Eurovisioni´s supporters. So much so that he hosted at Eutelsat´s headquarters (then on rue Balard in Paris, above the Parc Citroen) the entire edition of Eurovisioni in Paris in the year of the last regular Jubilee before the one that began in January this year.
That year Eurovisioni took place between the headquarters of Eutelsat (which was in the midst of a mutation from a consortium of state-owned telecommunications companies and ministries into a company listed on the Paris stock exchange) and the Palais du Luxembourg, promoting very high-profile reflections on how-thanks to the advent of pan-European direct broadcast satellites-it was finally possible to pave the way for a truly continental media industry. It was a 360-degree reflection that embraced legislative reforms at the European level (the Directive and the TV without Frontiers Convention), copyright and copyright reforms, but also launches of multilingual channel offerings (Euronews, ARTE, Eurosport) or even just expanding the distribution of channels hitherto reserved exclusively for national audiences.
A real revolution that combined innovation, industry and cultural offerings while respecting European diversity, where European industries of various natures cooperated together in a common project.
From that experience was then born the Hot Bird awards (later to become Eutelsat TV Awards), the international prize of European television excellence, strongly desired by Giuliano Berretta, which rewarded the best European satellite channels, especially those most innovative in content, as well as in the ways of use or interaction with the public. Eurovisioni, as a partner of that prize, ensured the independent international jury, composed of journalists from the major European newspapers, that awarded these prestigious prizes. Awards that from 1998 to 2012 for almost 20 years signified quality of content and technological innovation of the enlarged Europe, that of the Council of Europe, rather than that of the European Union. The awards ceremony was then held in prestigious venues in Venice, Rome or Paris.
Not coincidentally, the ETVAs ceased to exist when it was realized that Europe was losing the challenge of media technological innovation, which -from television and satellite- was moving to the Internet. A challenge for which yet Giuliano Berretta was preparing himself, having been among the first to move to digital, to digital cinema distributed from space and also to work on the idea of low-orbit satellites. An idea later brought to success by Musk, who, however, was able to establish it thanks to an availability of capital unimaginable for European industries, even the most “solid” ones. A parable, that of Eutelsat, full of insights ahead of its time, but also of unfulfilled promises, which hopefully today can return to play that role of pioneer of European innovation for the entire media and innovation industry. Now that even in Europe, after the reports of Draghi and Letta, the word “common industrial policy” is no longer taboo.
We would like to thank our friends at Media Duemila and those at HD Forum for the accurate biographies published soon after his passing and accessible at these links:
https://www.media2000.it/in-ricordo-di-giuliano-berretta-pioniere-delle-telecomunicazioni-via-satellite/
https://www.media2000.it/in-ricordo-di-giuliano-berretta-pioniere-delle-telecomunicazioni-via-satellite/
https://www.hdforumitalia.it/it/se-ne-va-un-altro-gigante/
A tribute will be dedicated to Giuliano Berretta during the XXXVIII edition of Eurovisioni to be held next fall in Rome at Palazzo Farnese.