What has been whispered for a week with nine-column headlines is finally official: Amadeus becomes part of Warner Bros. Discovery and becomes – after Crozza and Fabio Fazio – the leading face of Nove, the most important generalist channel in the portfolio of group which is the publisher of 15 channels (10 free and 5 paid).
With a four-year contract, Amadeus will host one access prime time program on the Nine (the time slot after Tg1) and two in prime time (one in autumn and the other in spring). Not only that, thanks to this agreement, as the note from Warner Bros. Discovery explains, «Amadeus will actively collaborate with senior management in the development of new entertainment formats for all the group’s platforms. The details of the projects in which he will be the protagonist will be announced in the coming months.”
Alessandro Araimo, CEO of the group which is the third publisher by share in Italy behind Rai and Mediaset (with 8.9% in the 24 hours) welcomed the arrival of the host taken from Rai in this way: «We are thrilled to welcome the our Amadeus team, TV champions, extraordinary artist and one of the most loved faces by the Italian public. Warner Bros. Discovery, a leading global media group, wants to be even more of a protagonist in Italy with channel Nove – increasingly rich in artists and unique and distinctive formats – with the entire portfolio of free and pay TV channels, with sport , digital platforms and film production and distribution. A system of means that makes us, in the Italian market, a unique entity capable of fully valorising the country’s major creative talents.”
Meanwhile, it emerges that Rai would have allowed the deadline for the renewal of the contract on the Soliti Ignoti format (owned by Endemol Shine Italy) to expire. At this point the hypothesis is strengthened that it could be Amadeus himself who leads the game on the Nine, causing one of the most popular defenses in the Viale Mazzini area to disappear. That is, that the format, beyond the performer, is an indispensable requirement for success in entertainment. In other words: whoever runs it, the program works. But if in addition to the host you also lose the format…