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.