Sales 2023: €2.513 billion

Overview

RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana Spa) is the Italian public radio and television broadcaster. It includes the full-service TV channels RAI 1, RAI 2 and RAI 3 (regional channels), RAI 4 (youth and children), RAI 5 (culture) and

An updated, complete company profile will be published shortly.

General Information

Headquarters
Viale Giuseppe Mazzini 14
00195 Rome
Italy
Telephone: 0039 06 38781
Internet: www.rai.it

Legal form: State-owned public limited company
Financial year: 01.01. – 31.12.
Founding year: 1924 (as URI), 1944 (as RAI)

Economic basic data (in million €)

	2023	2022	2021	2020
Revenue	2.513	2.539,1	2.516,6	2.361,6
Profit (Loss)	(39,3)	(29,8)	(30,4)	(20,7)
Employees	11.311	11.146	11.498	11.611

Executives and Directors

• Roberto Sergio, CEO
• Gian Marco Chiocci, Editor-in-Chief of TG1
• Antonio Preziosi, Editor-in-Chief of TG2
• Mario Orfeo, Editor-in-Chief of TG3
• Alessandro Casarin, Editor-in-Chief of TGR
• Francesco Pionati, Editor-in-Chief of GR, of Rai Giornale Radio
• Paolo Petrecca, director of Rai News
• Marcello Ciannamea, Director of Primetime Entertainment
• Stefano Coletta, Director of Distribution
• Maria Pia Ammirati, Head of Fiction
• Angelo Mellone, Daytime Entertainment Director
• Silvia Calandrelli, Head of Culture and Education
• Monica Maggioni, Editorial Department for Information Offering
• Adriano De Maio, Cinema and Series
• Nicola Rao, Director of Communication
• Maurizio Imbriale, Director of Digital
• Jacopo Volpi, Sports
• Luca Milano, Kids department
• Elena Capparelli, Director of RaiPlay and Digital
• Fabrizio Zappi, Documentaries
• Francesco Giorgino, Director Studios

History and Profile

By royal decree in 1910, the state was granted a monopoly on broadcasting in Italy. In 1924, after the Fascists had been in power for two years, the URI (“Unione Radiofonica Italiana”), the forerunner of RAI, was granted the sole right to broadcast. It had previously been founded with private capital. From the outset, the Fascist regime exerted strong influence over programming and news, renaming URI EIAR in 1927. In 1935, control was perfected when broadcasting was placed under the supervision of the Ministry of Press and Propaganda. As early as 1933, the Italian state became an indirect shareholder in EIAR. After the end of the war in Italy, the company was renamed Radio Audizioni Italia – RAI – in 1944. After the reconstruction of the destroyed broadcasting facilities, radio spread rapidly. By 1953, 4.5 million Italians were already listening to radio programs. The first television experiments began in 1952 with the broadcast of Pope Pius XII's Urbi et Orbi blessing and the inauguration of the Milan Mass. Official broadcasting began on January 3, 1954. From then on, the abbreviation RAI stood for Radiotelevisione Italiana.
In the following years, the new, long-term governing party, the Christian Democracy (DC), succeeded in establishing broadcasting as the government's mouthpiece. Although a parliamentary commission was supposed to monitor balanced reporting, the Prime Minister stood between this "commissione di vigilanza" and RAI. DC was able to maintain its influence. In 1954, RAI launched a regular television program.
Until the end of the First Republic and the consequent collapse of the established party system between 1992 and 1994, there was a high degree of continuity within the ruling political class, despite government instability. State-owned companies were subject to a strict party-based system (lottizzazione), which was particularly true for RAI. The three major parties, Democrazia Cristiana (Christian Democrats), PSI (Socialist Party), and PCI (Communist Party), were careful to ensure their inclusion in the system. The appointment of editors-in-chief of news programs was negotiated directly between the party headquarters. The three RAI channels developed an alignment along the lines of the three main parties—an Italian version of pluralism.

Despite various rulings by the Constitutional Court, Italy's stalled political system was unable to establish a legal framework for the emerging private broadcasting sector in the 1970s and 1980s. The result was the development of private TV networks in a virtual legal vacuum. Since there were no laws on merger control or restrictions on the dominant influence of public opinion, Milanese construction entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi was able to establish himself as a near-monopolist in private television with his Fininvest broadcasting group (now part of Mediaset). This created strong competition for RAI. After a 15-year delay, the media law demanded by the Constitutional Court was finally passed in 1990. However, the "Legge Mammí," named after the then-responsible minister, merely codified the RAI/Fininvest duopoly instead of ensuring competition. In the following years, two amendments to the Broadcasting Act naturally also affected RAI: The Maccanico Act, passed by the Prodi government in 1997, established the broadcasting supervisory authority AGCom It monitors compliance with RAI's public mandate. Fininvest/Mediaset's market and opinion-making power, however, remains unchallenged. In 2004, the government of media mogul Berlusconi, Prime Minister since 2001, passed the Gasparri Law, which reformed RAI's management structure. A nine-member Board of Directors took over the company's leadership. However, it took over a year before its members could be appointed after prolonged political wrangling.

Prime Minister Berlusconi's second term in office from 2001 to 2006 also marked a new level of political influence on state television. RAI also suffered from a severe leadership crisis. The already tenuous pluralism of the state broadcasters was further curtailed by politically motivated personnel policies. For example, the editors-in-chief of RAI Uno and RAI Due were replaced by loyalists of the governing parties. Only RAI Tre was able to maintain greater independence. However, unwanted journalists were being fired everywhere. Berlusconi marked the beginning of the gagging policy when he publicly demanded the heads of critical presenters in April 2002. Shortly thereafter, the program "Sciuscià," one of RAI's few investigative programs, was canceled without explanation. The troublesome presenter Michele Santoro disappeared from the screen, as did Enzo Biagi, Italy's journalism legend and "voice of freedom" (NZZ). Dozens of well-known and less well-known RAI employees were condemned to inactivity. Prime Minister Berlusconi was accused of a conflict of interest: his personnel policies were weakening RAI to the advantage of his own broadcasters. In 2004, RAI President Lucia Annunziata resigned in protest against political interference. The succession process turned into a farce: the top position remained vacant for over a year until an agreement was reached on Claudio Petruccioli as the new president in July 2005. The leadership transition at RAI proved similarly arduous after Berlusconi's return to government in 2008. Another nine months passed after the expiration of the term of the old board of directors before a new leadership was appointed in March 2009.

The quality of state broadcasting has continued to decline in recent years. Moreover, critics say RAI is now barely distinguishable from the private broadcasters. Its highly profitable competitor Mediaset has at times wrested the lead in ratings from the state broadcaster.

management

The battle for control of RAI has been fiercer than ever in recent years, even though direct influence by the governing majority on the state broadcaster was common practice long before Berlusconi's arrival on the political stage. The amendment to the media law ("Legge Gasparri") passed in spring 2004 reformed, among other things, RAI's management structure. The broadcaster is now headed by a nine-member administrative board. Seven of its members are appointed by a parliamentary supervisory committee, and two by the shareholder, the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The executive board is headed by a president, comparable to the general director of German broadcasters. The candidate for the post is proposed by the opposition. It was not until nine months after the expiration of the term of the old council that a new RAI management was appointed, in March 2009. The government and the opposition ultimately agreed on an outsider in the race and nominated Paolo Garimberti, former deputy editor-in-chief of the Roman daily newspaper "La Repubblica," as president. He is then formally elected by the parliamentary overseers. The composition of the council reflects the political balance of power in the Chamber of Deputies. Five of the nine members were appointed by the right-wing government camp, and two others are appointed by the finance minister, the almost sole shareholder. The finance minister also proposes the director general. In spring 2009, Mauro Masi was given the influential position. Masi had previously served as Prime Minister Berlusconi's secretary general in the government office. Two years later, the loyal manager, who had run the broadcaster using a one-against-all approach, resigned. In a vote, only 77 of the 1,438 participating RAI employees expressed their confidence in Masi. Lorenza Lei was appointed as her successor in May 2011. The term of office of the board of directors and the director general is three years. 

RAI's revenues amount to 57% from license fees, with advertising accounting for 35%. This is supplemented by income from licenses, etc. The annual license fee was raised to €110.50 in 2010. A financial problem for the state-owned company is that around 27% of households do not pay the fee. This costs the broadcaster €500 million annually. Parliament sets an annual cap on advertising revenue. Since RAI is primarily financed through license fees, competition between public and private broadcasters for advertising resources should be limited. However, in recent years RAI has lost a dramatic amount of market share. At the beginning of 2011, the state-owned broadcaster family accounted for only 24% of Italian TV advertising expenditure.

Business segments

Television
The broadcaster builds on its extensive programming offerings around its core free-to-air channel group, RAI Uno, RAI Due, and RAI Tre: Rai Educational, GR Parlamento, Rai News 24, Rai Sport, Rai Internazionale, RAI Med, RAI Doc, and Junior are available digitally or via satellite. The pay-TV offering includes Raisat Cinema, Raisat Extra, Raisat Premium, Raisat Smash, and Raisat Gambero Rosso.

Free-to-air television in Italy is struggling with declining viewership. In 2006, RAI lost 1.12% of its viewers compared to the previous year, while its private competitor Mediaset lost 0.6%. In terms of absolute viewership, 2007 could be a black year for RAI. The newspaper "la Repubblica" speculates that this could be due not only to global warming, but also to the yawn-inducing programming. While the Saturday evening show "Vietato Funari" on the first channel regularly achieves a market share of over ten percent, audience interest, especially among young people, is declining rapidly.   

In the first half of 2007, the announced takeover of the production company Endemol by RAI's main competitor, the Mediaset Group, sparked a debate. There are fears that a "creeping privatization" of RAI will occur if it continues to purchase content from Endemol.
The Italian branch of the production company, Endemol Italia, currently produces the shows "Che Tempo che fa" for Rai Tre and "Affari Tuoi" for RAI Uno. "Affari Tuoi" ("Your Business") is a highly successful game show airing in the key Saturday evening time slot at 8:30 p.m. In 2006, Endemol Italia delivered over 1,600 hours of programming for RAI and Mediaset channels, as well as for La7.

In September 2007, RAI announced investments in technical infrastructure to expand its IPTV (Internet TV) offering. RAI's internet portal receives 76 million hits per month and is growing rapidly.

Radio: In addition to the nationwide full-service programs Radio Uno, Radio Due and Radio Tre, the specialty programs Isoradio, GR Parlamento and Giornale Radio were recently launched.

On-lineRAI is increasingly focusing its activities on the internet. The current edition of its main news program, Telegiornale, is available online. In addition to a comprehensive service and information section surrounding its programming, RAI also offers various online services: the RAI Community internet platform with forums and games, the RAIteche online archive, and the RAIutile citizen portal for t-learning and t-government. The rai.it website also provides links to parliament, ministries, consumer associations, government campaigns, and more. Other services include Italica (RAI Internazionale's multilingual online platform), RAI Click and RAI Net (internet services), and RAI per la culura (online cultural media library).

MiscellaneousRAI markets its advertising space through its subsidiary SIPRA SpA. RAI Cinema, RAI New Media, and RAI Trade SpA are responsible for sponsorship, rights trading, and distribution, depending on the production. Distribution of productions in North America occupies a special position and is handled by RAI Corporation. The company also operates the following divisions: Televideo (teletext), RAI Way (transmission technology), Rai Eri (book publishing), Made in RAI (merchandise), and the RAI Symphony Orchestra.

Author(s): Alexander Matschke / Ulrike Sauer