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Rai’s offering

Rai covers all Rai covers all the platforms in the Italian marketplace, consolidating its position as the most active Italian broadcaster in digital media. This is in line with the provisions of the 2007-2009 Service Contract, which commits Rai to developing its programming activities and broadcasting rights on the various platforms in line with its position in the marketplace and its role as public service broadcaster (Article 6).

Analogue terrestrial broadcasting and FM radio remain the two segments traditionally covered by general-interest television and by radio stations. For a detailed description of the television programming and networks and the radio stations and genres, see the chapters below concerning television and radio programming in detail.

Digital Terrestrial Television

Digital terrestrial is the digital platform of reference for the public service broadcaster and Rai is extremely committed to a significant project for the development of programming and broadcasting, and for the support of the consolidation of the platform in line with the guidelines of the 2008-2010 Industrial Plan, contributing to the fulfilment of the plan to gradually switch over the television system to the digital standard.

It is with this in mind that Rai supports Tivù, the joint project launched with Mediaset and Telecom Italia Media with the aim of making digital terrestrial broadcasting a veritable television service capable of competing with that operating on other platforms.

During 2009 work continued on the redefinition of the offering parameter, which led to:
- the national launch, in February, of Rai Storia, the cultural channel curated by Rai Educational;
- the shutdown, in July, of the broadcasts by the RaiSat channels (Premium, Cinema, Extra, YoYo, Smashgirls, Gambero Rosso) on the Sky pay satellite platform;
- the launch, in August, within the areas which have already switched over to DTT, of the RaiSat Premium, RaiSat Cinema, RaiSat Extra, RaiSat YoYo channels.

At the end of 2009, Rai's offering on DTT available at national level consisted of eight free channels:
- simulcast of the three general-interest channels - RaiUno, RaiDue and RaiTre;
- five specialised channels - RaiNews 24, Rai Gulp, Rai Sport Più, Rai 4 and Rai Storia;

while in the "all digital" areas, these are joined by five more channels:
- in simulcast with free satellite TV - Rai Scuola;
- four specialised channels - RaiSat Premium, RaiSat Cinema, RaiSat Extra, RaiSat YoYo.
At the end of the digitalisation process, which will be completed in 2012, these five channels will be available nationwide.

Furthermore, in the "all digital" areas, Rai has launched an experimental broadcast in High Definition. All this configures the broadest free offering available in Italy and among the main European countries. The profiles of the Rai specialised channels are presented below.

Rai 4 is a channel created to stand apart from the traditional generalinterest offering, targeting new communication media viewers aged 15 to 35.The programming comprises TV series, Japanese animation, extensions of general-interest TV programmes and original productions, also in foreign languages, dedicated to new trends and to Internet.

Rai Gulp is the channel dedicated to children up to the age of 12, with quality programming based on the experience and tradition of Rai branded children's TV. The programming is varied: cartoons, TV series, documentaries, educational programmes, magazines and musical shows involving children themselves.

RaiNews 24 is the 24-hour news channel, with programming consisting mainly of news bulletins aired every half hour, completed with analytical programmes, theme-related live broadcasts, inquiries, weather reports, traffic reports, as well as political and cultural programmes.

Rai Sport Più proposes live broadcasts of Italian and international competitions in all sporting events, from the most popular to those with a smaller viewer basin made up of loyal enthusiasts. The programming is completed with news reports and analytical programmes.

Rai Storia, the programming of the 'memory channel', is dedicated to Italian history, art and culture. It consists of documentaries, reportages, inquiries and programmes the draw mainly on visual documents kept in Rai "Teche" and on the much appreciated productions of Rai Educational.

Rai Scuola is produced by Rai Educational in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, University and Research. The channel proposes educational and learning-based television products aimed primarily at students and school teachers of every level. The programming spans from scientific divulgation to IT subjects, from humanistic issues to English language lessons.

RaiSat Cinema is the channel dedicated to cult films; the programming follows a path of genres and titles ranging from the new American classics to noir films, from Italian popular films to quality titles that appeal to film buffs. The channel also monitors the leading Italian and international film festivals.

RaiSat Extra broadcasts 'the best of Rai from the day before'. This is the public service broadcaster's showcase, in which the programmes broadcast by the Rai channels over the previous days are rerun: the programming reference genres are information, inquiries, analyses, talk shows and variety programmes.

RaiSat Premium is the Italianproduced television fiction channel which makes up one of the main elements of Rai's broadcasting heritage and has always been very popular with viewers. The channel proposes the best of Rai branded fiction programmed in the past or in more recent television seasons.

RaiSat YoYo is the learning entertainment channel dedicated to preschool children (aged 2-5). The very safe and meticulously selected programming consists of cartoons, fairytales, original productions and container productions. The channel offers the best Rai and international productions.

2009 was also the year of the consolidation of the passage to DTT, defined by the Ministry of Economic Development on the basis of a calendar which envisages a progression on a regional basis, to be completed by the end of 2012. After Sardinia (October 2008), the switchover from analogue to DTT involved the following regions, in the order of listing: Valle D'Aosta (September), Western Piedmont (October), Trentino Alto Adige and Lazio (November) and Campania (December). The digitalisation process involved about 30% of the Italian population.

Digital satellite television

Rai sees satellite television as a complementary broadcasting platform with respect to digital terrestrial, which will make it possible to reach areas which are not served, even just partially, by this broadcasting technology, and to further diversify the offering in terms of breadth and business model.

As regards the theme of complementariness, from the point of view of distribution of the signal, we ought to point out the strategic choice made by Rai, together with Mediaset and Telecom Italia Media, in the wake of the decisions made for digital terrestrial broadcasting, to create a free satellite platform (Tivù Sat), which, launched in July 2009, offers viewers the chance to access free digital channels via satellite.

Satellite is also used to distribute Rai's international offering, which includes Raitalia, aimed at Italians living abroad, Rai Med, aimed at the Arab community, and Yes Italia, dedicated to promoting the country-system abroad. These channels are joined by Euronews, a news and information channel broadcast by a consortium of European public broadcasters, including Rai.

Digital Internet protocol television (IPTV)

Iptv is another complementary broadcasting channel with respect to digital terrestrial television for Rai, offering opportunities to expand and diversify its offering. Unlike digital terrestrial and satellite broadcasting, Iptv allows a high level of interaction with the public, as well as the customising of view consumption thanks largely to the video on demand (Vod) services guaranteed by this technology.

Also in this segment, which is still marginally used by Italian families, Rai has always been highly active, with the development of a dedicated offering which aims to exploit the potential of this platform.

Rai is present, only on the platform managed by the Fastweb operator, with the rebroadcasting of the generalinterest channels and Rai Sport Più, and also with a video on demand service called 'Rai On', split into several themebased channels featuring current and past Rai programmes.

Internet

Together with DTT, the web represents a central platform in Rai's programming and industrial strategy, both in the light of its growing popularity with Italian families and due to its ability to determine in-depth innovation in the offering, consumption and business models. Rai's Internet offering was renewed in terms of form and content in 2009, making it very extensive and even more well known for its wealth of multimedia elements (video, audio etc.).

Exploiting the growing diffusion of broadband among Italian households and the increased interest of users in this type of content, it is manifesting important growth trends as regards traffic.

Rai.it aggregates and increases the accessibility to the vast web offering of the public service broadcaster, which comprises the information websites of Rai news programmes, those of the main radio and television channels and programmes, as well as an area dedicated to children. Rai.it also proposes a series of important and interesting services for users, such as the programming guide to all Rai radio and TV channels and the community, which enables interaction with the favourite Rai personalities and programmes, as well as with other fans who share this passion. The appearance and content of Rai.it can be customised.

Rai.tv is the environment through which it is possible to access the whole Rai audio-video offering available on the Internet, via an advanced graphic interface. Through Rai.tv it is possible to watch all Rai television channels live, from the general-interest channels to the specialised channels. It is also possible to listen to all the radio channels. Tens of thousands of audio-visual items are also available on demand, some of which can even be downloaded. The Rai.tv offering is completed with a selection of video on demand contents proposed in high quality, along with web TV channels which propose themebased contents taken from recent and past Rai productions, as well as events or original contents produced especially for this purpose. Ra.tv can also be customised by users.