| Company name | RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana S.p.A. |
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| Company logo | |
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| Company type | Government-owned corporation |
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| Genre | Italian Public Broadcasting Service |
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| Foundation | 1924 as URI |
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| Founder | Italian Government |
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| Location city | Viale Mazzini 14, Rome| |
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| Location country | Italy |
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| Location | |
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| Revenue | €3210,9 million (2008) |
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| Num employees | 11698 (2008) |
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| Divisions | Rai CorporationRai WaySipraRai TradeRai InternationalRai NetRai OnRai TecheRai EriRai CinemaRai FictionRai EducationalRai VaticanoRai QuirinaleRai SportRai UnoRai DueRai Tre |
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| Owner | Italian Ministry of Economic Development |
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| Slogan | Rai, di tutti di più |
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| Homepage | rai.it rai.tv |
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RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana, known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, 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. RAI has a relatively high audience share of 42.3%.
Due to their close proximity, Albania, Switzerland, Monaco, Malta, San Marino, Vatican City, Montenegro, Slovenia and Croatia also receive broadcasts.
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 per le 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 14:30 started 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 23:15 was introduced the last the program of the day: La Domenica Sportiva, a soccer television program.
Parts of the early programming were 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. 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 5, Rai Gulp, Rai YoYo, Rai Sport 1, Rai Sport 2, Rai News, Rai Sender Bozen, Rai Storia, Rai Premium, Rai HD, Rai Movie. Visible only on satellite television: Rai Nettuno Sat 1, Rai Med, Yes Italia and Rai Scuola.
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.
Notes:
: Second term.
: Temporary.
: 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
Analog and digital terrestrial channels:
Rai 1
Rai 2
Rai 3
Rai Sender Bozen: in German, only in the province of South Tyrol few hours a day
Rai Radio TV Ladina: in Ladin, only in the province of South Tyrol and in the northern parts of the province of Belluno for few hours a day
Digital-only channels:
Rai 4: general entertainment
Rai 5: cultural entertainment
Rai Premium: tv series
Rai News: all news channel
Rai Gulp: kids and teens
Rai Yoyo: babies
Rai Sport 1: sport channel
Rai Sport 2: sport channel
Rai Storia: educational and cultural
Rai HD: HDTV channel
These channels are also available on Tivù Sat platform.
Satellite channels
IPTV channels
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 South Tyrol
Radio Trst A: in Slovene, only in Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Notturno Italiano: for the Italian communities in the EU
Rai Italia Radio: International radio service that broadcasts 'best of RAI' abroad.
Radio Rai Sport: Web Radio
Rai Webradio 6: "Radioscrigno"
Rai webradio 7: "Napoli canta"
Rai webradio 8: Webradio
News
TG1
TG2
TG3
Rai Parlamento
TGR
*GR Regione (Radio, Local)
GRR (Radio)
*GR1 (on Rai Radio 1)
*GR2 (on Rai Radio 2)
*GR3 (on Rai Radio 3)
Rai News
Logos
{| border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" style="border:1px solid #aaa"
|- align=center
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" |
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" |
|-
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | 2000–2010
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | 2010-
|}
See also
Television in Italy
Television licensing in Italy
Digital terrestrial television in Italy
Prix Italia
Footnotes
External links
http://www.rai.it/
http://www.rai.tv/
Rai on YouTube
Category:European Broadcasting Union members
Category:Government-owned companies in Italy
Category:Italian brands
Category:Italian-language television networks
Category:Orphan initialisms
Category:Publicly funded broadcasters
