Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) is Italy’s national public broadcaster. It is the largest broadcast company in Italy, with an audience share of close to 36%. RAI operates over 40 television and radio channels. The group also runs a few commercial companies responsible for ad sales, program distribution, and satellite television management.
Media assets
Television: RAI 1, RAI 2, RAI 3, RAI 4, RAI 5, RAI Gulp, RAI Movie, RAI News24, RAI Premium, RAI Scuola, RAI Sport, RAI Storia, RAI Yoyo, RAI 1 HD, RAI 2 HD, RAI 3 HD, RAI 4 HD, RAI 5 HD, RAI Movie HD, RAI Premium HD, RAI Sport+ HD, RAI 4K, RAI Italia, RAI World Premium, RAI Ladinia, RAI Sudtirol, RAI 3 BIS FJK
Radio: RAI Radio 1, RAI Radio 2, RAI Radio 3, RAI Radio 3 Classica, RAI Gr Parlamento, RAI Isoradio, RAI Südtirol, RAI Radio Trst A, RAI Radio Tutta Italiana, RAI Radio Techete, RAI Radio Live, RAI Radio Kids, RAI Radio 1 Sport, RAI Radio 2 Indie
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu)
Ownership and governance
RAI is owned by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance. The highest governing body at RAI is the Board of Directors, with seven members appointed for three years: two elected by the Chamber of Deputies, two elected by the Senate, two appointed by the Council of Ministers (Italian government), and one named by the RAI staff. The Board of Directors appoints the broadcaster’s CEO.
Source of funding and budget
RAI is funded through a combination of license fees (a levy that all of the country’s households are legally required to pay, which was around €90 per year until 2024) and advertising revenues.
As reported in RAI’s annual report, in 2021, RAI had a budget of nearly €2.68bn. Approximately 68% of this budget came from license fee revenue. The state also provided a subsidy to RAI in 2021, although it constituted a small portion of the overall RAI budget.
As stated in the company’s annual report, in 2022, RAI operated with a total budget of €2.73bn. The license fee accounted for approximately 68% of the total budget. In 2023, RAI had a budget of €2.73bn, with the license fee contributing €1.84bn.
The government of Italy announced on 16 October 2023 that it plans to reduce the license fee for RAI by 20%. As a result, RAI’s budget will be reduced by 20% starting from 1 January 2024. In December 2023, the Italian government approved a law that reduced the license fee to €70 a year.
Additionally, government officials are considering changing RAI’s funding model by replacing the license fee with a tax linked to the ownership of a telephone account. They argue that RAI’s programming is also accessible on such devices.
Editorial independence
There are no formal rules imposed by the government on RAI that require the broadcaster to favor the authorities in its programming. Yet, by appointing the governing bodies at RAI, the government indirectly influences the station’s editorial coverage and policies. Academic studies found the lack of editorial independence at RAI problematic.
In recent years, RAI came under harsh critical scrutiny for its lack of editorial independence. The broadcaster was at the center of a public scandal following the appointment of two controversial individuals, Giampaolo Rossi and Marcello Foa, to RAI’s Board. Both are notorious for their aggressive and extremist pro-Kremlin views. In a separate development, Carlo Fuortes, RAI’s CEO, resigned from his position in May 2023, accusing the RAI Board of interfering with the broadcaster’s editorial agenda.
The pressures of Giorgia Meloni’s government on RAI’s editorial agenda have intensified so much in the past year that the broadcaster’s programming came to be known as “Tele-Meloni.” These developments have also attracted attention in Brussels. In its latest rule of law report, issued in July 2024, the European Commission criticized Italy for not ensuring RAI’s “full independence.”
RAI’s public mission is guided by principles established in the Italian Constitution and the RAI Reform Law, last updated in 2015. However, these documents do not ensure the station’s editorial independence, which can lead to political forces and state authorities influencing its editorial agenda.
RAI also has a Code of Ethics that governs its rights, duties, and responsibilities toward its stakeholders. However, this document does not establish the station’s editorial independence.
AGCOM, the broadcast and telecom regulator in Italy, oversees the entire Italian media and also intervenes in RAI’s operations. In recent years, AGCOM has criticized and fined RAI for not fulfilling its public service mission, which is unusual considering that AGCOM is a government-appointed body.
That said, RAI does not have an independent assessment mechanism to monitor and validate the broadcaster’s editorial independence.
August 2024