RAI
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana, commercially styled as Rai since 2000 and known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels and radio stations. It is one of the biggest broadcasters in Europe and the biggest in Italy, competing with Mediaset and other minor radio and television networks. RAI has a relatively high television audience share of about 35.9%.
RAI broadcasts are also received in surrounding countries, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, Slovenia, Switzerland, Serbia, Romania, Tunisia, and the Vatican City, and elsewhere on pay television and some channels FTA across Europe including UK on the Hotbird satellite. Half of RAI's revenues come from the broadcast receiving licence fees, the remainder from the sale of advertising time. In 1950, RAI became one of the 23 founding members of the European Broadcasting Union.
Structure
RAI is 99% owned by the Italian Government Ministry of Economy and Finance and is the sole licensee of the radio, television, and multimedia broadcasting public service. For this reason, the agreement with the Government prescribes a series of rules and guarantees that RAI must follow to ensure fair public service to the citizens.Management and Board of Directors are elected by the ruling Parliament through the Parliamentary Commission for the General Direction and Supervision of Broadcasting Services, every three years, in agreement with almost all parliamentary exponents, usually following the political side of the majority and leaving some space for minor roles to minority parties exponents.
RAI is formally a private joint-stock company, although all stocks are state-owned; its company statute describes how the strict relationship with the Republic is also ruled by different national laws. The most recent one is the 2015 Riforma della Rai, "Rai Reform", i.e. the 2015 law no. 220, including the Testo unico della Radiotelevisione. RAI and broadcasting are supervised by the commission, which also rules economic budgets and main regulations, including public service's electoral segments during electoral campaigns.
History
1924
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. Regular programming began the following evening, with a quartet performing Haydn's Quartet No. 7 in A major from Palazzo Corradi. At 21.00 CET, Ines Donarelli Viviani announced for the first time: "URI—Unione Radiofonica Italiana Rome station 1RO 425 metres wavelength. To all those who are listening our greetings, good evening." Guglielmo Marconi's S.A. Radiofono—Società Italiana per le Radiocomunicazioni Circolari held 85% of URI shares and Western Electric's Società Italiana Radio Audizioni Circolari held the remaining 15%.Under the provisions of Royal Decree No. 1067 of 8 February 1923, wireless broadcasting became 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. 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, which became Radio Audizioni Italiane S.p.A. with investment from Società Idroelettrica Piemontese in 1944.
1940s
During the reconstruction following World War II, much of RAI's early programming was influenced by the "Reithian" style of the BBC. The emphasis was on educational content. Programs such as Non è mai troppo tardi and Un viaggio al Po introduced people to what life was like in other parts of the country, at a time when most people could not afford to travel.Over the following years, RAI made various changes to its services. It reorganised its radio stations in November 1946 into two national networks, Rete Rossa and Rete Azzurra. It added the culture-based Terzo Programma in October 1950. On 1 January 1952, the Rete Rossa became the Programma Nazionale and the Rete Azzurra became the Secondo Programma. The three radio channels eventually became today's Rai Radio 1, Rai Radio 2, and Rai Radio 3.
1950s
In 1954, the state-owned holding company Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale became the sole shareholder and URI—now renamed RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana to reflect its extended responsibilities—finally began a regular television service. On 3 January at 11:00 CET, the first RAI television announcer presented the day's schedule, which was broadcast from the service's Milan headquarters 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, L'osteria della posta, written by Carlo Goldoni. 23:15 saw the start of the day's concluding programme, La Domenica Sportiva—the first edition of a weekly series which continues to this day.2000s
RAI was originally the subsidiary of RAI Holding S.p.A. RAI Holding was absorbed into RAI as of 1 December 2004, per Article 21 of Law 112/04. RAI is governed by a nine-member Administrative Council. Seven of the members are elected by a committee of the Italian Parliament. The other two are nominated by the largest shareholder: the Ministry of Economic Development. The Council appoints the Director-General. The Director-General and the members of the Administrative Council are appointed for a renewable three-year term.In 2005, the government of Silvio Berlusconi proposed partial privatisation of RAI by selling 20% of its ownership. This proposal was very controversial, in part because Berlusconi was the head of the leading private broadcaster Mediaset. Some critics stated that Mediaset could become the buyer and thus increase its dominant position. After the revelation that RAI would lose €80m in 2006, the privatisation plan was suspended in October 2005.
2010s
On 18 May 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, Rai Premium, and Rai Movie. On 11 June 2013, RAI was one of the few European broadcasters to condemn and criticise the closure of Greece's state broadcaster ERT. RAI is 99% owned by the Italian Government Ministry of Economy and Finance, so it is said that it broadcasts content that may politically influence people.Corporate identity
The Alberto Ribera logo was introduced in 1967, however, this did not have significant application except on studios and portable cameras. A second variation of the Carboni logo was introduced in 1977, which was not officially adopted but appeared in some graphics, including that of the time signal.Controversies
Political fairness and balance between public service and commercial TV market
RAI's broadcasts content and nominees are frequently accused of political bias, depending both on the management for each channel or programme, and on the lack of meritocracy in contracts with television hosts and technicians, also concerting cachets and salaries. However, many people underline that RAI needs to balance political equity and public services with the market rules and competitors. All these issues are ongoing.RAI's main channels are considered slightly politically oriented: Rai 1 is liberal or centre-right, Rai 2 is usually more right-oriented, while Rai 3 typically has the majority of left oriented programmes and hosts Fabio Fazio and Bianca Berlinguer, or the journalistic deep investigation programme Report, famous for its investigations over far-right scandals. This issue in Italy is referred as lottizzazione and is yet to be solved.
Political censorship and civil rights advocacy controversies
RAI is frequently subjected to controversies and censorship accusations regarding political matters, especially civil rights and LGBT issues. The broadcaster was strongly accused in 2008 of cutting the gay love scene of the Oscar-winning movie Brokeback Mountain. RAI initially apologised for the cut, explaining that the cut was due to a pre-cut edition originally planned for the prime-time slot, and wasn't corrected when airing was shifted to the late-night slot. Critics noticed that similar scenes of heterosexual lovers were never cut out before in prime-time and reinforcing the accusation of homophobic censorship. The company rescheduled a new uncut version of the movie, but this was aired again in an even later time slot, a choice seen as a confirmation of the accusation. Only two years later, the movie aired again with all homosexual sex and kisses cut off. RAI was forced again to apologise, accusing a problem" with the pre-cut edition by the distribution company and a lack of fact-checking by the RAI employee.In 2011, episode 125 of the German TV Soap Um Himmels Willen, shown in Italy since 2004, was entitled Romeo and Romeo and due to screen on Rai 1 but was left out in order to "avoid controversy", according to the broadcaster. In 2016, during the first clear broadcast of the show How to Get Away with Murder, on Rai 2, the gay kisses for one of the main characters were completely cut off. RAI apologised again, stating that the incident was "merely the mistake of an overzealous editor". Criticism on the social media platforms was so strong that Falahee and showrunner Shonda Rhimes both tweeted against the network's "inexcusable" censorship.