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history
It was 3 January 1954 when television
broadcasting began normal operations
and Rai came to the small screen with its
first channel. By the end of 1954, television
was in 58% of Italian homes (by 1961, it
reached 97% of the Italian population).
Radio broadcasts, on the other hand, had
been commonplace since the early 1920s
with three national stations: Primo, Secondo,
and Terzo (or networks 1, 2 and 3).
Subscription rates grew constantly over
the first ten years, rising from just 24,000
in 1954 to more than 6 million in 1965,
and in every home and in every public
meeting place, the entire neighbourhood
would gather to watch TV.
Television, as a public service, was intended
not only as a source of entertainment, but
also as a means to educate and inform,
and even to help combat widespread
illiteracy. In that regard, it helped create a
national language much more than schools
had been able to do.
At first, programmes lasted nearly four
hours, and there was no advertising.
Broadcasts began at 5.30 p.m. with La
TV dei Ragazzi ('TV for Kids'), after
which there was an intermission,
followed by the news at 8.45 p.m. and
other broadcasts until 11.00 p.m.
In 1957, we saw the first major change
with the introduction of advertising and
Carosello, an Italian icon in which
entertainment took precedent over the
actual advertising. In fact, it was typical
for children to stay up to watch Carosello,
after which they would all go to bed.
While television owes it rapid rise in
popularity to entertainment, news and
information has remained Rai's claim to
excellence, with more than 70% of the
TV audience following the news.
The most popular sports were cycling
and soccer, which were broadcast
faithfully by Rai.
Towards the end of the decade,
recording systems become more diffuse,
so that television was no longer tethered
to live broadcasts, but could now record,
save, and rebroadcast at a later date.
In 1962, Italy's second television channel
came onto the scene, and, for the first
time, Italian television was able to
connect via satellite with America. A few
months later, the first testing of colour
broadcasting began, with the official
launch not coming until the mid-70s.
Also in the second half of the 1970s,
regional broadcasts made their debut,
and the news anchorman replaced the
newsreader.
In 1979, the third television network was
inaugurated, with both regional and
national broadcasts, and the first local
commercial networks made their entrance
into the Italian television marketplace.
The 1980s saw the first testing of
Teletext services, subtitling for the
hearing impaired, and the Auditel
audience-share ratings system. This was
also the decade in which the nationwide
commercial networks made their debuts.
In February 1996, Rai officially joined
the Internet with its website at www.rai.it,
and by the end of 1997 the company
launched its first three digital satellite
theme-based channels, testing of which
had begun in the early 90s.
At the end of 2003, Rai's board of
directors approved the creation of the
Italian association for the development
of digital terrestrial broadcasting, and in
January 2004, Rai launched its first
offering on the new platform, beginning
a new era in the development of the
Italian television market.
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