| Type | Government-owned corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media |
| Genre | Public Broadcasting Service |
| Founded | 1954 (1924) |
| Founder(s) | Italian Government |
| Headquarters | Viale Mazzini 14, Rome, Italy |
| Revenue | €3.012 billion (2010)[1] |
| Owner(s) | Ministry of Economic Development |
| Employees | 11402 (2010)[1] |
| Subsidiaries | Rai Corporation Rai Way S.p.A. Sipra S.p.A. Rai World S.p.A. RaiNet S.p.A. Rai Cinema S.p.A. 01 Distribution S.r.l. |
| Website | Rai.it Rai.tv |
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. (for brevity Rai S.p.A.) known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane,[2] is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. 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 several television channels and radio stations, broadcasting in analog terrestrial (until 2013), in digital terrestrial and in several satellite and IPTV offerings. In 1950, Rai became one of the 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union.
Half of Rai's revenues come from the broadcast licence fee, the other half from advertising.[3][4] Rai has a relatively high audience share of 42.3%.[5]
Due to their close proximity, Albania, Switzerland, Monaco, Malta, San Marino, Vatican City, Montenegro, Slovenia and Croatia also receive broadcasts.
Contents |
Unione Radiofonica Italiana (URI) was formed in 1924 with the backing of the Marconi Company following a model adopted in other European countries. URI made its inaugural broadcast — a speech by Benito Mussolini at Teatro Costanzi — on 5 October and regular programming began with a quartet performing Haydn's Opera 7 from the Palazzo Corradi the following evening. At 21:00 CET, Ines Donarelli Viviani announced for the first time: "URI—Unione Radiofonica Italiana Rome station 1RO 425 meters wavelength. To all those who are listening our greetings, good evening."[6] Guglielmo Marconi's S.A. Radiofono—Società Italiana per le Radiocomunicazioni Circolari (Radiofono) held 85% of URI shares and Società Italiana Radio Audizioni Circolari (SIRAC) the remaining 15%.
Under the provisions of Royal Decree No. 1067 of 8 February 1923, wireless broadcasting was a state monopoly under the control of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs; URI was commissioned to provide services for a minimum of six years pursuant to Royal Decree No. 2191 of 14 October 1924 "Concessione dei servizi radioauditivi circolari alla Società Anonima Unione Radiofonica Italiana".[7] However, when URI's contract expired in 1927, it was succeeded under Royal Decree Law No. 2207 of 17 November 1927 by the partially nationalised Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche (EIAR), which would go on to become Radio Audizioni Italiane S.p.A. (RAI) with investment from Società Idroelettrica Piemontese (SIP) after the fascist defeat in 1944. As the market developed over the next twenty years RAI made various changes, introducing Rete Rossa (classical music) and Rete Azzurra (news and entertainment) in 1946 (the Terzo Programma was added in 1950) and extending its charter to include television in 1952 (the same year that Rete Rossa became the Programma Nazionale and Rete Azzurra the Seconda Programma), undergoing a final name change as RAI—Radiotelevisione italiana in 1954 to better reflect this new medium.
It was in this year the state-owned holding company Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI) became the sole shareholder and RAI finally began a regular television service. On 3 January at 11:00 CET, the first RAI television announcer broadcast the daily schedule from the Milan office and relay stations in Turin and Rome. At 14:30, the first regular programme in Italian television history was broadcast: Arrivi e partenze, hosted by Armando Pizzo and Mike Bongiorno. The evening's entertainment was a theatre performance, written by Carlo Goldoni: L'osteria della posta. At 23:15, the last the programme of the day was introduced: La Domenica Sportiva, which survives today.[8]
Influenced by the "Reithian" British Broadcasting Corporation, parts of the early programming were focused on educational content: during the reconstruction following World War II, programmes like Non è mai troppo tardi and Un viaggio al Po showed people what life was like in other parts of the country, in a time when tourism was out of the reach of the vast majority of the population.
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.[9][10] 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 YoYo, Rai 5 (formerly known as Rai Extra), Rai Premium, Rai Movie (formerly known as Raisat Cinema).
The former parent, RAI Holding Società per Azioni was absorbed into RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. under the provisions of article 21 of Law 112/04 of 1 December 2004.
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 Ministry of Economic Development. The Council appoints the director-general. Both director-general and members of the administrative council are appointed for a renewable three year term.
| 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 |
| 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 | May 2, 2011 |
| Lorenza Lei | May 4, 2011 |
Notes:
^Note 1 : Second term.
^Note 2 : Temporary.
^Note 3 : Vice Director-general acting as Director-general.
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.
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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. |
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Free-to-view on Tivù Sat platform:
These channels are also available in analog switch-off areas. |
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| 1982–2000 | 2000–2010 | 2010- |
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