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A little over a year ago, Italy’s largest phone company, Telecom Italia (News - Alert) SpA, and Rupert Murdoch-owned Sky Italia SpA, announced a partnership with the intention of bringing the nation — which has no major cable carriers — a new Internet-TV service that would give satellite TV a run for its money.

At long last, the offer has officially launched, and will be available for subscribers with at least 20 Megabit Internet connections that want to ditch the dish. This is good news for denizens of Italy who are unable to install a dish because of building restrictions, particularly in urban areas.

Some of the benefits of the new broadband subscriber service include more than 150 channels over the Web, and a featured library of approximately 2,500 on-demand films and shows.  The starting rate for the first year of service will be 39 Euros ($41.50) per month, and the package will be inclusive of fixed and mobile Web connections, voice and pay-TV content.

“This agreement with Sky will be a crucial driver to boost Italy’s ultra-broadband networks and innovative services, the main focus of our business plan,” Telecom Italia Chief Executive Officer Marco Patuano told Bloomberg Business at a presentation in Rome Thursday, April 16. 

And the offer couldn’t have arrived any sooner. According to Bloomberg (News - Alert) Business, Telecom Italia has been itching to recover on some of its debt, and the new Internet-TV service could help boost phone bill prices as customers leave other TV hookups behind and switch to broadband.

That said, the real winners here are subscribers interested in shifting to a broadband network and harnessing more innovative platforms than what is currently offered, especially those by satellite TV. Whether it turns out to be the success that all parties are hoping for remains to be seen.