Italia 1 is an Italian commercial television channel on the Mediaset network. It is oriented especially at young people. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, originally, was owned by Rusconi; after a few months, however, due to the aggressive dumping practices of Silvio Berlusconi's rival network Canale 5, Rusconi was forced to sell the majority of his company to Fininvest, allowing Berlusconi to further strengthen his media holdings.