Stars leave the state broadcaster, and audience favorites join the special competition. And the ratings are going down.
The RAI Uno noise echoed throughout Italian homes for a long time like a wake-up call. People stopped eating or chatting, at least for a moment, and listened to RAI's headlines. But that's over.
Viewing ratings are declining. Last year, the Berlusconi family's various TV channels attracted more viewers for the first time than the programs of state broadcaster RAI, which is funded by fees and advertising revenue, La Repubblica wrote.
Stars leave RAI for private sector
The causes of bleeding vary. On the one hand, there are many crowd favorites who have turned their backs on the RAI – also because the private competition pays much better.
One of the most famous examples of this is the grand dame of political journalism in Italy, Lily Gruber.
legend:
Lilli Gruber left RAI long ago and turned to a television competition special. She now presents her show on La Sette.
Imago/Iba/Abaca
The star journalist from South Tyrol has long left RAI and can only be seen on the private channel La Sette. But Gruber is by no means the only one.
Amadeus also turns its back on RAI
It was recently announced that Amadeus would also be leaving RAI and switching to private competition. Amadeus is the stage name of Amedeo Sebastiani. For years he presented a game show after the Tagesschau on RAI Uno.
Amadeus has always been RAI's classification champion. He had a show every evening. Amadeus also ran the New Year's Eve concert and five long evenings of the San Remo Music Festival. Average audience rating: An incredible 55 percent.
legend:
Amadeus is a huge TV star in Italy. He also left the state broadcaster RAI.
Keystone / Ettore Ferrari
But this too is over. Amadeus turns to Discovery, the new provider that wants to change TV screens in Italy.
Meloni put good people in RAI positions
There are also political reasons why the public consumes less RAI. Because when the government changes in Italy, the big clean-up begins at RAI. This affects not only the executive level, but also extends to individual editorial departments.
So when Giorgia Meloni and her right-wing coalition moved into the Roman Palace, they placed a particularly large number of their loyalists in the RAI. But it's not always the best. Various programs hosted by supporters of the new right-wing government failed.
The audience leaves
Journalists who previously ran these programs have switched to private programmes. Some of them, like Fabio Fazio or Bianca Berlinguer, also took their program formats with them to the competition. And with the performances also part of the audience. The same could happen now with Amadeus.
According to some newspapers, RAI may lose the San Remo Music Festival to its competitors. But it's not far away yet.
But many people who want a more independent or progressive RAI feel displaced by the media. Ironically, it is private broadcasters, mostly owned by right-wing business families, that now serve a more left-wing audience better than RAI.
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