|
RaiSat
During the first half of the year, the
management of Rai and RaiSat met the
counterparty, SKY, on several occasions
to assess the possibility of continuing
their relationship, which expired at the
end of July.
SKY decided that it couldn't carry out
exclusive negotiations on the basis of a
possible agreement for the supply of the
RaiSat channels only (excluding
Gambero Rosso Channel, not required
by SKY), tying up the possible new
agreement to the free availability of all
Rai's free channels.
On 30 July 2009, the Boards of
Directors of Rai and RaiSat
acknowledged the fact that it was
impossible to continue the relationship
with SKY Italia and agreed that it would
be best to use the RaiSat channels to
expand the Group's television offering
on the DTT platform in the areas
implicated in the switch-off.
Consequently Rai and RaiSat drew up
an agreement for the supply, initially,
until 31 December 2009, of the Extra,
Premium, Cinema and YoYo channels,
as well as those which had already been
supplied for some time (Rai Gulp and
Rai 4).
This meant that the Company
experienced two phases during the year:
the first, until 30 July, characterised by
uncertainty as to the possibility of
continuing the partnership with SKY
Italia, having to continue the programming of the channels supplied
to SKY Italia, and the second, from
August to December, characterised by
the need, for the four channels supplied
to the DTT platform, to have to cope
with programming needs in relation to
the limited visibility of the channels
throughout the country.
The business model used to supply the
channels to SKY Italia, which envisaged
the editorial responsibility being held by
RaiSat for the channels supplied to the
satellite platform, has now been
abandoned, restoring the Parent
Company to its role as editor for all the
free channels offered by Rai.
Despite this extensive transformation
phase, RaiSat did not forego its aim to
produce editorial content for Rai, with
significant ratings, maintaining the
economic balance.
On 22 October 2009, Rai's Board of
Directors resolved the internalisation of
RaiSat, to be carried out in compliance
with methods still to be defined.
During the session held last 4 March,
following the transferral of RaiSat's
activities from RCS Mediagroup to Rai,
the same Board of Directors resolved to
go ahead with the launch of the
activities aimed at the merger by
incorporation of the subsidiary into Rai.
Rai's digital terrestrial offering
As of 31 July 2009, the channels
distributed nationwide are Rai 4 and Rai
Gulp.
As regards the other channels - RaiSat
Premium, Extra, Cinema and YoYo -
(RaiSat Gambero Rosso and RaiSat
Smash Girls ceased broadcasting on 31
July 2009), the reference audience
underwent a dramatic change due to
the passage from pay satellite TV
distribution to free local DTT distribution
restricted to the all-digital areas.
This audience increased during the
second half of the year due to the
progressive admission of the all-digital
areas, with the Trentino Alto Adige, Valle
d'Aosta, Western Piedmont, Lazio and
Campania regions joining Sardinia.
With reference to the four channels
supplied to SKY (and then distributed on
free DTT in the all-digital areas), i.e.:
RaiSat Cinema, RaiSat Extra, RaiSat
Premium and RaiSat YoYo, the
progressive expansion of the 'all digital'
audience in the second half of 2009
contributed to the strong recovery of the
editorial performance of these offerings
in the months that followed the launch
on the DTT platform (August 2009).
In December 2009 in particular, the
comprehensive share of this bouquet on
the whole television audience was, on
the average day, about 1%, with RaiSat
Cinema, Premium and YoYo reaching
shares almost twice and three times
those registered during the first seven
months of 2009 on the SKY platform.
The audience figures for this offering in
the regions which are currently alldigital
(which reached a comprehensive
share of about 3.4% in December
2009) show considerable potential for
growth at national level. The
performance of the channels distributed
at national level (Rai 4 and Rai Gulp)
allows hope for interesting audience
growth rates when the next regional
switch-offs take place.