World Report

talians depend on television for much of their news and entertainment. RAI, the state-run broadcaster, has been producing a broad spectrum of programming and public information services for decades.
To meet the demand from Italian nationals around the world, RAI International presents Italy’s image abroad with almost 2,000 hours of TV programmes and over 11,000 hours of radio in several languages, including the best of RAI’s national output.

Rai has been forging links with foreign broadcasters

To satisfy the growing appetite for original programming, RAI has been forging links with foreign broadcasters to create special programmes with an international flavour. By pooling resources projects that would otherwise be too expensive can be developed and the programmes pay for themselves through savings derived from co-operative efforts.

“The plan is not to create a single European broadcaster, but to find specific projects where co-operation would be beneficial to the parties involved,” explains a RAI spokesman.

RAI Med already taps into the Arab-speaking market and broadcasts six hours a day, three hours in Italian and three in Arabic, to an audience of more than 250 million in the Mediterranean area. RAI also hopes to develop joint-venture projects for RAI International.

Under the RAI International umbrella, it is envisaged that there will be two stations broadcasting in English to North American and Australian audiences, one in Spanish for Latin America, and one in Arabic. The latter would be a direct evolution of RAI Med. Another channel would eventually broadcast in China, where Italy is already a major investor.

“The image of Italy is going to benefit from a renovated, digital RAI International,” says the spokesman.
RAI’s broadcasting stations all over Italy are being upgraded “to bridge the gap between the two shores of the Mediterranean”. More hours of regional coverage are planned.

“Our mission is to give the right image of Italy, with its variety and richness of cultures and skills – the true image of Italy,” adds the spokesman.
Considerable savings have already been made across RAI’s three main national channels. The attempt to make RAI a more culturally-focused broadcaster – and indeed open to foreign investment – will undoubtedly be welcomed by many Italians.