RAI

Infobox Company
company_name = RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana S.p.a.
company_
company_type = Government-owned corporation
genre = Italian Public Broadcasting Service
foundation = 1924
founder = Italian Government
location_city = flagicon|Italy Rome|
location_country = Italy
location =
origins =
key_people =
area_served =
industry =
products =
services =
revenue = €3144 million (2006) [http://www.bilancio2006.rai.it/uk/bilancio/cons02.htm "RAI Annual Report 2006"] en icon Retrieved on 2008-06-16]
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees = 13248 (2008) [http://espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio/Rai-lorgia-del-potere/2025919&ref=hpstr1 "Rai, l'orgia del potere"] it icon Retrieved on 2008-07-09]
parent =
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 (95% RAI - 5% RCS MediaGroup)
subsid =
owner = Min. of Economy & Finance
slogan = "Rai, di tutti di più"
homepage = [http://www.rai.it rai.it] [http://www.rai.tv/ rai.tv]
dissolved =
footnotes =

Rai - Radiotelevisione Italiana, known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, [ [http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/storia_radio.html La radio in Italia cronologia] it icon Retrieved on 2007-11-28] is the Italian public service broadcaster, and is considered the biggest public television company in Europe with the British BBC. It operates three terrestrial television channels and three radio channels, in addition to several satellite and digital terrestrial offerings. Created as URI in 1924, it started television broadcasts on January 3, 1954. RAI was one of the 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950.

A very controversial plan to partly privatise RAI, by selling 20% of the public broadcaster, was suspended in October 2005.

Half of RAI's revenues come from the broadcast licence fee, half from advertising. [http://www.comunicazioni.it/news/pagina198.html "Basta con il governo padrone, così cambierà la Tv pubblica"] it icon Retrieved on 2007-10-10] [http://www.comunicazioni.it/news/pagina242.html " DDL Riforma Rai"] it icon Retrieved on 2007-10-10] RAI has a relatively high audience share of 43.55% [http://www.bilancio2005.rai.it/ita/relazione/rel06b.htm ::: RAI - Bilancio 2005 :::] it icon Retrieved on 2007-12-29] . The fact that Berlusconi's government pushed for a sale of Mediaset's public service rival had caused a very heated debate, with some of the 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.Fact|date=February 2007 "RAI's privatisation is "de facto" suspended", its new director general, Alfredo Meocci, told a parliamentary watchdog committee. [http://www.ofcomwatch.co.uk/2005/11/rai-privatization-stopped] [https://registration.ft.com/registration/barrier?referer=http://www.ofcomwatch.co.uk/2005/11/rai-privatization-stopped&location=http%3A//news.ft.com/cms/s/4ff81270-474e-11da-b8e5-00000e2511c8.html] RAI broadcasts three main terrestrial channels: Rai Uno, Rai Due and Rai Tre.

Early history

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.

In 1927, URI was renamed "Ente Italiano Audizioni Radiofoniche" (EIAR). It survived until 1944 when, under Allied pressure, it was reborn as "Radio Audizioni Italiane", or RAI. Still a privately owned company, it operated two radio networks: Rete Rossa (red) and Rete Azzurra (blue), with Rossa playing more serious music and Azzurra featuring occasional variety shows.

It was not until 1954 that RAI took on its modern form. In this year the state-controlled holding company IRI became the sole shareholder, and RAI finally began a regular television service. The first day’s schedule featured a report on the opening of RAI’s studio in Milan, sporting events of the day, and an early evening film.Fact|date=February 2007

The first few decades of programming were focused on strictly educational programming. During Reconstruction, programs like "Non è mai troppo tardi" and "Un viaggo al Po" were able to take people from their villages and small communities and see what life was like in other parts of Italy. The dialects of Italy also made it difficult for people to communicate, so RAI was instrumental in building a national, common language.

Management

RAI is governed by a nine member Administrative Council. Seven of its nine members are elected by parliamentary committee, the remaining two (one of which includes the President) are nominated by the largest shareholder — that is, the Italian Minister of Economy and Finance. 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 of RAI

atellite channels

IPTV channels

International

*Raitalia — Broadcasts the best of RAI to International audiences

Defunct Channels

*RaiSat Album (30 June2003)
*RaiSat Art (30 June2003)
*RaiSat Fiction (30 June2003)
*Rai Azzurri "UEFA Euro 2004" (2004, broadcasted using "Rai Olimpia / Rai Utile" frequencies)
*Rai Doc "cultures, styles" (31 May 2007)
*Rai Futura "technologies, games, etc." (1 February 2007, broadcasted on the same frequences of "Rai Doc" at settled times)
*Rai Olimpia "2004 Summer Olympics" (2004, broadcasted using "Rai Utile" frequencies)
*Rai Sport Satellite "sports" (11 May 2008, changes his name in "Rai Sport Più")
*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 (also known as IV Canale) - broadcasting easy listening music
*Rai FD5 Auditorium (also known as V Canale or Classica) - broadcasting classic and opera music
*Rai GR Parlamento a radio station broadcasting the Italian Parliament
*Rai Isoradio a radio station designed for motorway users
*Radio Trst A - a radio station for the Slovene minority in Friuli-Venezia Giulia
*Notturno Italiano - a radio service for the Italian communities in the EU - broadcasting mainly Italian pop music, classic and opera music, as well as hourly news bulletins in Italian, French, German and English - operating from the Milan, Rome and Naples RAI Medium Waves transmitters every night 00:00-06:00 Cental European Mean Time.
*Rai Satelradio - International radio service that broadcasts 'best of RAI' abroad.

News

*TG 1 - Telegiornale Uno (News broadcasting)
*TG 2 - Telegiornale Due News broadcasting)
*TG 3 - Telegiornale Tre (News broadcasting)
*TG Regionale (Local News broadcasting)
*GR 1 (Radio News broadcasting)
*GR 2 (Radio News broadcasting)
*GR 3 (Radio News broadcasting)
*GR Regionale (Radio Local News broadcasting)
*Tagesschau (German speaking news from Bolzano)
*"Meteo Rai" (Weather)
*"Sports"

Other programmes

*"Sanremo Music Festival" ("Festival della canzone italiana")
*"Uno Mattina" — morning magazine programme (Rai Uno) (Hosted by Eleonora Daniele and the journalist Luca Giurato)
*"Affari Tuoi" (Italian version of Deal or No Deal?) - shown every day at 8.35pm on Rai Uno. The show is hosted by Flavio Insinna.
*"Domenica In" — Sunday show (Rai Uno) hosted by Pippo Baudo, Lorena Bianchetti, Massimo Giletti and Luisa Corna.
*"L'Isola dei Famosi" (Italian version of Celebrity Survivor) shown on Rai Due on 9.00pm every Wednesday night and hosted by Simona Ventura
*"Che Tempo Che Fa" talk show (Rai Tre) hosted by Fabio Fazio and the comedian Luciana Littizzetto. It's one of the most seen talk shows in Rai networks.
*"DS - Domenica Sportiva" and "90° minuto (90th minute)" sport programming blocks shown on Saturday and Sunday respectively on Rai Tre and Rai Due. "90th minute" deals with Italian Serie B, the second Italian football (soccer) championship.

Foreign Series

*"McLeod's Daughters" - shown on Rai Uno
*"ER" — shown on Rai Due
*"Friends" — shown on Rai Due
*"The District" — shown on Rai Due
*"Charmed" — shown on Rai Due
*"JAG" — shown on Rai Due
*"The Practice" — shown on Rai Due
*"Without a Trace" — shown on Rai Due
*"Desperate Housewives" — shown on Rai Due
*"NCIS" — shown on Rai Due
*"Cold Case" — shown on Rai Due
*"Lost" — shown on Rai Due
*"Rome" — shown on Rai Due

Other satellite TV programmes

*"The Late Show with David Letterman" — shown on RaiSat Extra
*"Dallas (TV series)" - shown on RaiSat Premium
*"Mujeres" - shown on RaiSat Premium

Foreign programmes no longer broadcast

*"Eurovision Song Contest" (since 1997)
*"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (since 2005)
*"Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (since 2007)

ee also

*List of Italian language television channels
*Digital television in Italy
*List of radio stations in Italy
*Prix Italia

Footnotes

External links

*http://www.rai.it/
*http://www.rai.tv/
* [http://www.youtube.com/rai Rai] on YouTube