RAI
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| Type | Government-owned corporation |
|---|---|
| Genre | Italian Public Broadcasting Service |
| Founded | 1924 as URI |
| Founder(s) | Italian Government |
| Headquarters | Viale Mazzini 14, Rome, Italy |
| Revenue | €3210,9 million (2008)[1] |
| Owner(s) | Italian Ministry of Economic Development |
| Employees | 11698 (2008)[2] |
| Divisions | Rai Cinema Rai Corporation Rai Way Sipra Rai Trade Rai Net Rai Click Rai Teche Rai Fiction Rai Eri Rai Vaticano Rai Quirinale Rai Sat Rai Uno Rai Due Rai Tre |
| Website | rai.it rai.tv |
RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana, known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane,[3] is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI is the biggest television company in Italy. It competes with three major private television companies, Mediaset, Telecom Italia Media and Sky Italia.
Rai operates many television channels and radio stations, broadcasting in analog terrestrial (until 2013), in digital terrestrial and in several satellite and IPTV offerings. RAI is one of the 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950.
Half of RAI's revenues come from the broadcast licence fee, half from advertising.[4][5] RAI has a relatively high audience share of 42.3%[6].
Due to its close proximity, Albania, Switzerland, Monaco, Malta, San Marino, Vatican City, Slovenia and Croatia also receive broadcasts.
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History
Origins
RAI started off as a privately owned company. The Unione Radiofonica Italiana (URI) was formed in 1924 by private entrepreneurs and part of the Marconi group. Granted a monopoly of radio broadcasts in 1924, URI made its first broadcast — a Haydn quartet — on the 24 October of that year. URI was developed under the Italian Postal and Telecommunications Code. This code indicated that broadcast services belonged to the state, which, at that time, was the commission of Unione Radiofonica Italiana for a minimal of six years. However when the URI's contract was up, it was succeeded to 1927 by Ente Italiano Audizioni Radiofoniche (EIAR) who later was renamed to Radio Audizioni Italiane (RAI) in 1944. For the next twenty years, RAI had made several expansive changes to their company as the market developed such as extending their charter to include television in 1952 and undergoing their final name change as Radiotelevisione Italiana in 1954.
In this year the state-controlled holding company IRI became the sole shareholder, and RAI finally began a regular television service. On January 3 at 11:00 CET, the first RAI television announcer announced the daily scheduling from the Milan office and the relay stations in Turin and Rome. At the 14:30 starts the first regular programme in the Italian television history: Arrivi e partenze, hosted by Armando Pizzo and Mike Bongiorno. The first evening show was a theatre performance, written by Carlo Goldoni: L'osteria della posta. At the 23:15 was introduced the last the program of the day: La Domenica Sportiva, a soccer television program.[7]
Parts of the early programming was focused on educational content: during the reconstruction following World War II, programs like Non è mai troppo tardi and Un viaggio al Po made people see what life was like in other parts of Italy, in a time when tourism was out of the reach of the vast majority of the population.
2000s
A very controversial plan to partly privatise RAI, by selling 20% of the public broadcaster, was suspended in October 2005.
The fact that the Berlusconi-led government pushed for the sale of Mediaset's public service rival caused a very heated debate, with some critics claiming that Mediaset could become the buyer and thus increase its dominant position even further. However, in October 2005 it was announced that the privatisation plan had been suspended, following the revelation that the company would make a loss of €80m ($96m, £54m) during 2006. "RAI's privatisation is de facto suspended", its new director general, Alfredo Meocci, told a parliamentary watchdog committee.[8][9] On May 18, 2010, Raisat received a major upgrade and re-branded with a new logo and a new name. it and all of the sister channels dropped the sat part from the name and became Rai 1, Rai 2, Rai 3, Rai 4, Rai YOYO, Rai Sport 1, Rai Sport 2, Rai News, Rai Sender Bozen, Rai Storia, Rai Scuola, Rai Premium, and Rai Extra.
Management
RAI is governed by a nine member Administrative Council. Seven of its nine members are elected by a parliamentary committee, the remaining two (one of which the President) are nominated by the largest shareholder: the Italian Ministry of Economic Development. The Council appoints the director-general. Both director-general and members of the administrative council are appointed for a renewable term of three years.
Presidents
| Name | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|
| Arturo Carlo Jemolo | April 20, 1945 | August 9, 1946 |
| Giuseppe Spataro | August 9, 1946 | May 17, 1951 |
| Cristiano Ridomi | May 17, 1951 | March 11, 1954 |
| Antonio Carrelli | June 3, 1954 | January 4, 1961 |
| Novello Papafava | January 4, 1961 | March 25, 1964 |
| Pietro Quaroni | May 29, 1964 | April 12, 1969 |
| Aldo Sandulli | April 23, 1969 | February 18, 1970 |
| Umberto delle Fave | March 24, 1970 | April 22, 1975 |
| Beniamino Finocchiaro | May 23, 1975 | January 20, 1977 |
| Paolo Grassi | January 20, 1977 | June 12, 1980 |
| Sergio Zavoli | June 12, 1980 | October 23, 1986 |
| Enrico Manca | October 23, 1986 | February 19, 1992 |
| Walter Pedullà | February 19, 1992 | July 13, 1993 |
| Claudio Demattè | July 13, 1993 | July 12, 1994 |
| Letizia Moratti | July 12, 1994 | April 24, 1996 |
| Giuseppe Morello | April 24, 1996 | July 10, 1996 |
| Enzo Siciliano | July 10, 1996 | January 21, 1998 |
| Roberto Zaccaria | February 3, 1998 | February 17, 2000 |
| Roberto Zaccaria1 | February 17, 2000 | February 16, 2002 |
| Vittorio Emiliani | February 16, 2002 | February 22, 2002 |
| Antonio Baldassarre | March 5, 2002 | February 26, 2003 |
| Paolo Mieli | March 7, 2003 | March 13, 2003 |
| Lucia Annunziata | March 13, 2003 | May 4, 2004 |
| Francesco Alberoni2 | May, 2004 | May, 2005 |
| Sandro Curzi2 | June 1, 2005 | July 30, 2005 |
| Claudio Petruccioli | July 31, 2005 | March 25, 2009 |
| Paolo Garimberti | March 26, 2009 | present |
Directors General
| Name | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|
| Salvino Sernesi | 1949 | 1953 |
| Giovan Battista Vicentini | 1954 | 1955 |
| Rodolfo Arata | 1956 | 1960 |
| Ettore Bernabei | January 5, 1961 | September 18, 1974 |
| Michele Principe | May 23, 1975 | January 25, 1977 |
| Giuseppe Glisenti | January 26, 1977 | June 17, 1977 |
| Pierantonino Bertè | July 12, 1977 | June 18, 1980 |
| Villy De Luca | June 19, 1980 | July 21, 1982 |
| Biagio Agnes | July 29, 1982 | February 1, 1990 |
| Gianni Pasquarelli | February 5, 1990 | July 23, 1993 |
| Gianni Locatelli | July 23, 1993 | August 3, 1994 |
| Gianni Billia | August 3, 1994 | December 31, 1994 |
| Raffaele Minicucci | January 16, 1995 | February 29, 1996 |
| Aldo Materia3 | March 6, 1996 | July 15, 1996 |
| Franco Iseppi | July 15, 1996 | February 8, 1998 |
| Pier Luigi Celli | February 9, 1998 | February 17, 2000 |
| Pier Luigi Celli1 | February 17, 2000 | February 9, 2001 |
| Claudio Cappon | February 9, 2001 | March 19, 2002 |
| Agostino Saccà | March 19, 2002 | March 27, 2003 |
| Flavio Cattaneo | March 27, 2003 | August 5, 2005 |
| Alfredo Meocci | August 5, 2005 | June 20, 2006 |
| Claudio Cappon | June 22, 2006 | April 2, 2009 |
| Mauro Masi | April 2, 2009 | present |
Notes:
^Note 1 : Second term.
^Note 2 : Temporary.
^Note 3 : Vice Director-general acting as Director-general.
Television
RAI broadcasts three main terrestrial channels, also available on satellite television. Rai 1, the main channel, targets the family market. Rai 2, that has broadcast since November 4, 1961 as the "Secondo Programma", has in recent years lacked clear focus, but now attempts to focus on a slightly younger audience than Rai 1. Rai 3 (on air from December 15, 1979 as "TV3") is the ‘alternative’ channel, with a definite public service remit and local programmes. Rai 1 and Rai 2 started full-time color broadcasting on February 1, 1977.
Terrestrial channels
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Analog and digital terrestrial channels:
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Digital-only channels:
These channels are also available on Tivù Sat platform. |
Satellite channels
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Free-to-air:
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Free-to-view on Tivù Sat platform:
These channels are also available in analog switchoff areas. |
IPTV channels
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On Alice Home TV
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On TV di FASTWEB
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International
- Rai Italia: broadcasts the best of RAI to International audiences
Discontinued channels
- RaiSat Album (30 July 2003)
- RaiSat Art (30 July 2003)
- RaiSat Fiction (30 July 2003)
- RaiSat Smash Girls (1 August 2009)
- RaiSat Gambero Rosso Channel (1 August 2009)
- Rai Azzurri: UEFA Euro 2004 (2004, broadcast using Rai Olimpia / Rai Utile frequencies)
- Rai Doc: cultures, styles (1 June 2007)
- Rai Futura: technologies, games, etc. (1 February 2007, broadcast on the same frequences of Rai Doc at settled times)
- Rai Olimpia: 2004 Summer Olympics (2004, broadcast using Rai Utile frequencies)
- Rai Utile (1 January 2008)
- Rai Widescreen: 1998 FIFA World Cup (1999)
Radio channels
- Rai Radio 1: News/information
- Rai Radio 2: Adult Contemporary
- Rai Radio 3: classical music
- Rai FD4 Leggera: easy listening music, also known as IV Canale
- Rai FD5 Auditorium: classic and opera music, also known as V Canale or Classica
- Rai GR Parlamento: broadcasting the Italian Parliament
- Rai Isoradio: for motorway users
- Rai Sender Bozen: in German, only in the province of Bolzano-Bozen
- Radio Trst A: in Slovene, only in Friuli-Venezia Giulia
- Notturno Italiano: for the Italian communities in the EU
- Rai Satelradio: International radio service that broadcasts 'best of RAI' abroad.
- Radio Rai Sport: Web Radio
News
- TG 1 - Telegiornale Uno
- TG 2 - Telegiornale Due
- TG 3 - Telegiornale Tre
- TG Regionale
- Tagesschau (in German language)
- GR 1 (Radio)
- GR 2 (Radio)
- GR 3 (Radio)
- GR Regionale (Radio, Local)
Logos
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| 2000–2010 | 2010- |
See also
- Television in Italy
- Television licensing in Italy
- Digital terrestrial television in Italy
- Prix Italia
Footnotes
- ↑ ::: RAI Annual Report 2008 ::: (English) Retrieved on 2009-09-11
- ↑ "Rai, l'orgia del potere" (Italian) L'espresso, Retrieved on 2008-07-09
- ↑ La radio in Italia cronologia (Italian) Retrieved on 2007-11-28
- ↑ "Basta con il governo padrone, così cambierà la Tv pubblica" (Italian) Retrieved on 2007-10-10
- ↑ " DDL Riforma Rai" (Italian) Italian Ministry of Communications, Retrieved on 2007-10-10
- ↑ ::: RAI Annual Report 2008 ::: (English) Retrieved on 2009-09-11
- ↑ [1], in Italian. Retrieved on 2009-06-21
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ [3]
External links
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