BBC sues Berlusconi over 'Strictly Come Dancing’ knock-off
An Italian television network owned by the country's scandal-prone Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has found itself on the receiving end of a BBC-penned lawsuit after screening a dance-based gameshow with more than a passing resemblance to Strictly Come Dancing.
Mediaset, the production company behind the raunchier interpretation, produced Baila! for the country’s Canale 5 Network, in in in direct competition with the officially licensed version on Rai.
Disputing the allegations of copyright infringement, Mediaset said that their version employed amateur dancers, not professionals, and was therefore not directly comparable.
Pier Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister's son and deputy chairman of Mediaset, defended his company's actions saying, “It “The dance talent show is a format that works on commercial television everywhere in the world. We certainly wouldn't claim that the only reality format is Big Brother.”