Sky Italia

Type	Società a responsabilità limitata
Industry	Telecommunication
Founded	31 July 2003
Founder(s)	Rupert Murdoch
Headquarters	Milan and Rome, Italy
Area served	Nationwide
Key people	James Murdoch (Chairman) Andrea Zappia (CEO)
Products	Direct broadcast satellite
Parent	News Corporation
Website	www.sky.it

Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian digital satellite television platform owned by News Corporation launched on 1 August 2003, when the former platforms TELE+ (Canal+) and Stream TV (News Corporation and Telecom Italia) merged. It is similar in many ways to BSkyB's Sky Digital in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and like that network it is a major sports broadcaster.

Pay TV services on Sky Italia are encrypted in NDS Videoguard. The Videoguard set-top boxes that have been provided since July 2010 are identical to the Sky+ HD boxes used in the UK. Pace, Amstrad and Thomson, all Digibox licensors, have been producing Sky Italia boxes (Sky Box, Sky HD, My Sky and My Sky HD) identical to their Sky Digital, Sky+ and Sky+ HD offerings, albeit with the potential removal of the second card slot and UHF modulator.

Since July 2010 Sky Italia has been giving the 'Sky Digital Key' and the My Sky HD box for free to every new customer (since July 2009 HD channels have been available with no extra cost to all Sky Italia subscribers). The 'Sky Digital Key' is a USB device which has to be connected to the 'My Sky HD' box and to the aerial cable, allowing the customer to receive every DTT SD and HD free channel on the Sky HD or My Sky HD box.

The 'My Sky' boxes launched on 22 November 2005 - based on a new digital receiver with HDD recording capabilities and surround sound output (not previously available on the normal box). Subsequently, the 'My Sky HD' boxes (High Definition with HDD recorder) were added. The 'My Sky HD' service had been provided with an extra charge until July 2010, when it became a base-line service. The service is functionally identical to the BSkyB Sky+ HD.

On 28 June 2010, Sky Italia changed its brands and logos, making them identical to the BSkyB ones.

Sky Italia offers eight packages of channels: five base-level 'Channel Packs' and three optional 'Sky Packs' enhancements. The 'Channel Packs' are: 'Entertainment' with 33 variety, series and semi-generalist channels (3 of them in HD); 'Documentaries and Lifestyle' with 17 channels (2 of them in HD); 'Music' with 16 channels and 27 audio channels; 'Kids' with 21 channels; 'News' with 15 national, local and international news channels and 5 basic sport channels. The 'Sky Packs' are the following: 'Cinema' with 12 movie channels (10 of them in HD), and a 3D channel, Sky Cinema 3D (PPV Sky Primafila movies are 50% off for 'Cinema' subscribers); 'Sport' with 8 channels (5 of them in HD), and a 3D channel, Sky Sport 3D; 'Calcio' with 15 channels (9 of them in HD) covering Italian and international football, the most popular sport in Italy, along with Sky Sport 24 (sport all-news channel), offered as bonus channel for 'Calcio' subscribers. The 'Sky Primafila' service offers pay-per-view movies, sport events and adult content (at night); the pay-per-view movies and some non-sport events are disseminated in 28 'Primafila' channels (8 of them in HD); one channel airs daily Penthouse TV HD programmes, available as a stand-alone premium channel. Sky Primafila has got some similarities to BSkyB's Sky Movies Box Office.

The HD service has been offered without any extra charge since 2009. There are 37 HDTV channels so far broadcasting on Sky, due to become 50 by the end of 2011.

On 1 October 2010, Sky activated its first 3D channel, Sky Sport 3D, available without any extra cost to the Sport pack subscribers. The very first event Sky Sport 3D aired was the 2010 Ryder Cup. On 25 December 2010, Sky launched another 3D channel: Sky Cinema 3D, airing 3D movies, available for free for Cinema pack subscribers. These channel have been replaced by Sky 3D on 6 September 2011.

On many channels, foreign-sourced content is broadcast either with an option to choose between Italian and English language soundtracks (rarely other languages), or with Italian subtitties.

Sky Italia uses the Hot Bird 6/8/9 satellites at 13.0°E, the same satellite fleet used by RAI, Tivù Sat, NOVA Greece, NOVA Cyprus, Cyfra+ and Cyfrowy Polsat.

Tom Mockridge, the then head of Sky Italia replaced Rebekah Brooks as chief executive of News International after she had resigned on 15 July 2011.^[1]

Andrea Zappia replaces Tom Mockridge as CEO on 1 August 2011.^[2] On 7 October 2011 Sky Italia announced it reached the 5 million subscribers benchmark.

Channels[link]

External links[link]

• Sky Italia official site (Italian)
• Sky Italia on NewsCorp.com

Sources[link]

The Miz
The Miz as WWE champion
Ring name(s)	Calgary Kid[1][2] The Miz Mike "The Miz" Mizanin
Billed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[3]
Billed weight	221 lb (100 kg)[3]
Born	(1980-10-08) October 8, 1980 (age 31)[4] Parma, Ohio[4][5]
Resides	Los Angeles, California[4]
Billed from	Calgary, Alberta, Canada Cleveland, Ohio[3]
Trained by	UPW staff Al Snow Bill DeMott
Debut	2003[4]
Website	http://themiz.net/

Michael "Mike" Gregory Mizanin (born October 8, 1980) ^[4] is an American professional wrestler, reality television star, media personality, and actor better known by his nickname and ring name The Miz. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment on its Raw brand. Mizanin first gained fame as a cast member on MTV's The Real World: Back to New York, which first aired in 2001, and its spinoff series, Real World/Road Rules Challenge. He later entered the fourth season of Tough Enough, a televised competition that would award the winner a WWE contract, and became the first runner-up. Mizanin has also made appearances on television shows including Battle of the Network Reality Stars, Fear Factor, Identity, Ghost Hunters, Dinner Impossible, Psych and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?.

Mizanin trained and wrestled with Ultimate Pro Wrestling and Deep South Wrestling, where he became the first Deep South Heavyweight Champion. Mizanin was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), working in tag team matches and winning the tag team title, the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, on one occasion.

After signing with WWE, Mizanin became host of the annual WWE Diva Search competition in 2006. Following his hosting duties, Mizanin made his wrestling debut in September 2006, as a villain who went undefeated. In 2007, was drafted from SmackDown to the ECW brand, where he formed a partnership with John Morrison, in which the two held both the WWE Tag Team Championship and the World Tag Team Championship. He was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2009 WWE Draft, and won the WWE United States Championship on two occasions. He also won WWE Unified Tag Team Championship with The Big Show and the WWE Tag Team Championship with John Cena. In July 2010, he won a Money in the Bank ladder match at the first WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view, earning a contract for a WWE Championship match, which he used in November to win the WWE Championship for the first time. In 2011, The Miz was ranked number one on Pro Wrestling Illustrated's annual PWI 500 list.

Early life[link]

Mizanin, a native of Parma, Ohio, attended Normandy High School, where he was the captain of the basketball and cross country teams.^[4][5] He also participated in swimming, the student government and was the editor of his high school yearbook.^[4] He then attended Miami University, where he was a member of the Theta Chi Fraternity, and studied business at the Richard T. Farmer School of Business.^[4][5][6]

Television career[link]

Mizanin dropped out of college, where he was pursuing a degree in business, in order to appear on the tenth season of MTV's reality television program The Real World in 2001.^[7][8] He went on to appear in multiple seasons of its spin-off series, Real World/Road Rules Challenge,^[8] along with contestants from both Road Rules and The Real World, including Battle of the Seasons,^[9] The Gauntlet,^[10] The Inferno,^[10] Battle of the Sexes 2,^[11] and The Inferno 2.^[12] Except for Battle of the Sexes 2, Mizanin made it to the end of the rest of the Challenges on which he competed, and won both Battle of the Seasons and The Inferno 2.

After a seven year long absence from The Real World/Road Rules Challenge, Mizanin returned to the reality show on April 4, 2012 as the host of The Battle of the Exes season finale Reunion special. It marked the first time The Miz appeared on the series since becoming a main event WWE superstar.^[13]

It was during an episode of The Real World that Mizanin first displayed an alter ego known as "The Miz".^[4] In contrast to Mizanin's usually placid demeanor, The Miz was angry, combative, and headstrong. Mizanin later realized that "The Miz" would make an excellent professional wrestling gimmick.^[4]

In 2004, he appeared on the Bravo reality show Battle of the Network Reality Stars,^[8][14] where his team finished second. Mizanin was also a contestant in the "Reality Stars" episode of Fear Factor.^[8][15] His partner was his former girlfriend and cast mate, Trishelle Cannatella, and the two won the competition. In April 2007, he appeared on the game show Identity, where he appeared as a stranger, and contestant John Kim correctly identified his identity as a professional wrestler by the odd way he added "Miz-" before most words.^[16] In 2008, Mizanin appeared on the Sci Fi reality series Ghost Hunters Live as a guest investigator.^[17] In 2009, Mizanin appeared on two episodes of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, which were both aired on September 29.^[18][19] He appeared on an episode of Destroy Build Destroy on March 3, 2010.^[20][21] On October 5, 2011, Miz starred in an episode of H8R. He also appeared as a guest star in a March 2012 episode of Psych. On March 31, Miz appeared in the first ever Slime Wrestling World Championship at the Kids Choice Awards, losing to the Big Show which resulted in him being thrown into a tub of slime.

Professional wrestling career[link]

Ultimate Pro Wrestling (2003)[link]

Pursuing the goal of becoming a professional wrestler which he had harbored from an early age, Mizanin joined Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW), where he trained in the Ultimate University.^[4] He made his in-ring debut in 2003 as the Miz.^[4] During his time with UPW, the Miz competed in UPW's Mat War's tournament, making it to the finals before losing to Tony Stradlin.^[4]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE[link]

[edit] Tough Enough and training (2004–2006)

The Miz in 2005

In October 2004, Mizanin entered the fourth season of Tough Enough, a televised competition which would award the winner a World Wrestling Entertainment contract and $1,000,000.^[4][22] Despite coming last in an arm wrestling tournament on November 25, 2004, Mizanin outlasted six other wrestlers, and made it to the final round.^[6] At the pay-per-view event, Armageddon, Mizanin faced the other remaining entrant, Daniel Puder, in a three round "Dixie Dogfight" (boxing match). Neither man achieved a knockout, and the contest was awarded to Puder on the basis of crowd reaction.^[23] On the December 16, 2004 episode of SmackDown!, Puder was announced as the winner of Tough Enough by head trainer Al Snow.^[24]

Despite losing the Tough Enough contest, Mizanin had piqued the interest of WWE, and he was eventually offered a developmental contract.^[4] Mizanin was sent to Deep South Wrestling (DSW) to train under Bill DeMott,^[4] relocating to McDonough, Georgia in the process. In July 2005, he wrestled two dark matches for WWE, teaming with former Tough Enough champion Matt Cappotelli to face The Highlanders (Robbie and Rory McAllister). On December 1, 2005, Mizanin defeated Mike Knox in the finals of a tournament to determine the inaugural Deep South Heavyweight Champion.^[4][25] He continued his partnership with Matt Cappotelli throughout the second half of 2005 in WWE dark matches and house shows until Cappotelli, nominally of Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), was diagnosed with a brain tumor after an injury at a taping in December 2005.^[26]

On January 3, 2006, it was reported that Mizanin had been transferred to OVW. On the January 18, 2006, OVW TV show, Mizanin made his debut as "The Miz", with a Miz TV segment, where he was shown talking backstage.^[4] On the January 28, 2006 episode of the OVW television show, The Miz wrestled his first singles match against Rene Dupree, but lost by countout.^[27]

At the February 8, 2006 TV taping, The Miz and Chris Cage captured the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, defeating Chet the Jett and Seth Skyfire.^[4][28] In what was deemed a "disciplinary move", WWE released Cage over the weekend of March 18, 2006, making it necessary for Miz and Cage to drop the titles.^[29] On March 19, 2006, Deuce Shade defeated The Miz in a singles contest to win the championship for his team The Untouchables (Deuce Shade and Domino).^[4][30]

SmackDown! host (2006–2007)[link]

On March 7, 2006, WWE's official website featured a video of "The Miz" stating that he was headed to SmackDown! and throughout April, SmackDown! aired vignettes hyping his debut.^[4][31] When Mizanin actually attempted to make his debut on the April 21, 2006 episode of SmackDown!, however, he was, in storyline banned from entering the arena by "network executive" Palmer Cannon who told him that he had been "canceled" before having security escort him from the premises.^[32]

The Miz standing on the apron at an ECW/SmackDown live show

On May 31, 2006, WWE's official website announced that he would serve as SmackDown!'s "host".^[33] The Miz debuted as the "host" on June 2, 2006,^[34] announcing the planned card at the top of the show and attempting to hype up the crowd. Other "host" duties included backstage interviews and hosting a bikini contest. The hosting duties seemed sporadic at best, with some weeks having little to no involvement of Miz at all. Starting in July, Miz, along with Ashley Massaro, became host of the annual Diva Search competition appearing on both Raw and SmackDown!.^[35][36][37]

After the end of the Diva Search competition, The Miz returned exclusively to SmackDown! and adopted a villainous persona, starting his in-ring competition with a win over Tatanka in a September 2006 episode of SmackDown!.^[38] After this win he, along with commentator Michael Cole, began to note whenever possible that he was "undefeated", though he only wrestled five matches over the next two months, defeating such superstars as Matt Hardy,^[39] Funaki,^[40] and Scotty 2 Hotty.^[41] At the same time he began a feud with Diva Search winner Layla El, who spurned his advances on more than one occasion,^[42][43] leading to Miz helping Kristal defeat her in various competitions.^[44][45] Soon, however, Miz and Kristal found themselves being stalked by The Boogeyman. This began a feud in which the Boogeyman ended the Miz's winning streak at December's Armageddon event.^[46]

Following a brief absence from television, The Miz returned to SmackDown! to host an interview segment called Miz TV.^[47] After the unsuccessful segment, the Miz returned to in-ring competition with a more intense style and began to pick up wins once again.^[48][49] On the June 11, 2007 episode of Raw, Mizanin faced off against Snitsky in a match to determine a draft pick for SmackDown!.^[50] Snitsky easily defeated the Miz to give ECW the draft pick, but after constantly assaulting the Miz after the match, the referee reversed the decision and awarded the match to Miz, thus allowing SmackDown! a draft pick.^[51] SmackDown!'s pick was then revealed to be Chris Masters.^[51]

ECW and teaming with John Morrison (2007–2009)[link]

Miz was drafted from SmackDown! to ECW on June 17, 2007 as part of the 2007 Supplemental Draft.^[52] He was absent from the first few weeks of ECW, though he was the subject of backstage mentions between matches and had several short Miz TV Crashes ECW video segments.^[53][54] He made his debut on the July 10 episode of ECW in a match against Nunzio, which he won.^[55]

Following this match, Extreme Exposé began expressing admiration in him and gave him a lap-dance, starting a new gimmick for him of a self-proclaimed "chick magnet".^[56] Extreme Exposé then became managers for The Miz.^[57] He then began a feud with Balls Mahoney, after Kelly Kelly began to fall in love with Mahoney on screen.^[58][59][60] On the October 2 episode of ECW, it was revealed that Miz owned the contracts of Kelly Kelly, Layla, and Brooke Adams, and used this excuse to stop Kelly from going out with Mahoney.^[61] He was voted at Cyber Sunday to face CM Punk, for the ECW Championship but lost the match.^[62]

Miz (left) and John Morrison as World Tag Team Champions.

On the November 16 episode of SmackDown, he became one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with John Morrison when they defeated Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in a title match, which gave the Miz his first title within the company.^[63][64]

In February 2008, Miz and Morrison were given a streaming segment on the WWE website named The Dirt Sheet in which they mocked other wrestlers and facets of pop culture, showing off their promo skills.^[65] Morrison and The Miz co-wrote each episode of The Dirt Sheet each week.^[66] As the duo continued to hold the titles, WWE downplayed the angle of Miz and Morrison disliking each other, and portrayed them as friends. The team had many successful title defenses over the next few months, before dropping the championship to Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder at the Great American Bash in a Fatal Four-Way match which also featured Jesse and Festus and Finlay and Hornswoggle.^[67] Neither Miz nor Morrison were pinned, as Hawkins pinned Jesse to win the titles.^[67] Miz and Morrison soon followed a feud with Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard and JTG) as a battle of their webshows, "Word Up" and "The Dirt Sheet". The two would be victorious against Cryme Tyme in a match at Cyber Sunday where they were voted in.^[68] On December 13, 2008, Miz and Morrison defeated Kofi Kingston and CM Punk to win the World Tag Team Championship during a WWE house show in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.^[69] The team then engaged themselves in a feud with The Colóns (Carlito and Primo). In a dark match at WrestleMania XXV, they lost the World Tag Team Championship to The Colóns in a Lumberjack match to unify the World Tag Team and the WWE Tag Team titles.^[70] On the April 13 episode of Raw, The Miz lost a match to Kofi Kingston due to Morrison's inadvertent interference, which gave Raw a draft pick in the 2009 WWE Draft. The pick was then revealed to be The Miz, and he subsequently attacked Morrison, ending their partnership.^[71]

United States and WWE Champion (2009–2011)[link]

The Miz during his feud with John Cena in 2009.

Miz challenged John Cena to a match on the April 27 episode of Raw, but as Cena was out due to injury, Miz claimed an unofficial win via forfeit and continued to do this over the following weeks, until Cena defeated him in a singles match at The Bash.^[72] On the August 3 episode of Raw, The Miz lost a match to Cena, which meant that, in storyline, he was banned from the Staples Center, Raw and SummerSlam.^[73] The following week, on August 10, Miz competed under a mask as "The Calgary Kid", and won a Contract on Pole match against Eugene, earning a contract in storyline, and revealing himself by removing his mask afterwards.^[74] After removing the mask to reveal himself. he cut a promo and debut his catchphrase "Because I am The Miz and I'm Awesome."

On the August 19 edition of Raw, The Miz announced his intention to challenge for the WWE United States Championship, and also debuted new ring attire and a new finishing move, the Skull Crushing Finale, to defeat Evan Bourne.^[1][5] He challenged for the United States Championship at the Night of Champions, Breaking Point and Hell in a Cell pay-per-views, but was unsuccessful.^[75][76][77] On the October 5 episode of Raw, the night after Hell in a Cell, The Miz received a rematch for the championship, and defeated Kofi Kingston to win the United States Championship and his first singles championship in WWE.^[78][79] The following pay-per-view event, Bragging Rights, was themed with interpromotional matches and now that The Miz was the second-tier champion on Raw he was booked against SmackDown's Intercontinental Champion, his erstwhile tag team partner John Morrison.^[80] In the build up to their first match since splitting, the two hosted a one-off edition of The Dirt Sheet on the October 16 episode of SmackDown where the two compared themselves to '80s tag team The Rockers, debating over which is more comparable to the successful Shawn Michaels and which was the less successful Marty Jannetty.^[81] At Bragging Rights, Miz pinned Morrison to become the only member of the Raw roster to win an interpromotional match.^[82] The following month at Survivor Series, Miz captained a team of five wrestlers against Team Morrison in a five-on-five Survivor Series elimination match and once again bested his former partner.^[83]

ShoMiz (The Miz and The Big Show) as the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions at WrestleMania XXVI.

In 2010, The Miz began a rivalry with MVP that began with a critically well-received verbal exchange between the two.^[84] The two met in an unadvertised match for the United States Championship at the Royal Rumble event with Miz retaining his title, but in the Royal Rumble match itself MVP eliminated both himself and The Miz.^[85] During the rivalry with MVP, Miz began showing signs of an allegiance with The Big Show and on the February 8 episode of Raw, the two defeated champions D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) and The Straight Edge Society (CM Punk and Luke Gallows) to become the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions.^[86][87][88]

On February 16, it was announced that he would be on the WWE NXT show as the storyline mentor of Daniel Bryan.^[89] At WrestleMania XXVI, Show and Miz defeated John Morrison and R-Truth to retain the title again.^[90] During the 2010 WWE Draft on the April 26 episode of Raw, ShoMiz lost the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship to The Hart Dynasty when Tyson Kidd made The Miz submit to the Sharpshooter. After the match, The Big Show knocked out The Miz, and was later drafted to the SmackDown brand, leaving The Miz on Raw.^[91] On May 10, Kidd defeated The Miz in a match, which earned any member of The Hart Dynasty a match for the United States Championship, and The Miz, who was allowed to choose his opponent, elected to face Bret Hart.^[92] On the following episode of Raw on May 17, Hart defeated The Miz to win the United States Championship, despite Chris Jericho, William Regal, and Vladimir Kozlov attempting to interfere on The Miz's behalf.^[93] The Miz had a tumultuous relationship with Bryan, who was eliminated from NXT on May 11, although he returned the following week to attack The Miz.^[94][95]

On June 1, The Miz announced that he would be returning as a Pro for the second season of NXT, to mentor Alex Riley, the only Pro to do so.^[96][97] On the June 14 episode of Raw, The Miz defeated R-Truth, John Morrison, and Zack Ryder in a fatal four-way match to win the United States Championship for the second time, and successfully retained the championship against R-Truth at the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view.^{[98][99][100]}

The Miz as the United States Champion and Money in the Bank holder in August 2010.

On July 18, at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, The Miz won a Money in the Bank ladder match to win a contract for a WWE Championship match that he could utilize at any time over the next year.^[101] Over the next few weeks, The Miz attempted to cash in his Money in the Bank contract on the WWE Champion Sheamus, but was continually interrupted by other wrestlers before the matches could occur, which meant that he retained the contract for future use.^[102][103] Daniel Bryan returned to WWE at SummerSlam, taking The Miz's place on Team WWE, causing The Miz to attack him.^[104] This began a rivalry between the two, with The Miz losing the United States Championship to Bryan at the Night of Champions event in September.^[105] The following month, Miz defeated John Cena to become the captain of Team Raw, but at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view Team Raw—The Miz (with Alex Riley), R-Truth, John Morrison, Santino Marella, Sheamus, CM Punk, and Ezekiel Jackson—were unsuccessful in defeating Team SmackDown.^[106]