The Public Service covers all the consolidated and emerging platforms in the Italian marketplace, with a very broad and articulate offering capable of appealing to all types of audiences.
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.
Rai has pursued a multichannel development of the offering and broadcasting infrastructures, which has enabled the provision of decisive support of the consolidation of the platform in line with the progress of the plan to gradually switch over the television system to the digital standard. During 2010 the publishing strategy implementation process continued, leading to:

• the launch, on 18 May, of the new channel Rai Sport 2 and the approval of the restyling of the Rai brand and its channels, with the aim of making the whole Rai offering more recognizable;

• the launch, at the end of November, when the switch-off took place in the Milan area, of the broadcasts of the semi-general interest channel Rai 5, dedicated to cultural entertainment.

As regards the television offering, Rai has a publishing plan which envisages a bouquet of fourteen free channels, one of which in HD.
At the end of 2010, Rai's offering on DTT available at national level consisted of nine free channels:

• simulcast of the three general-interest channels - RaiUno, RaiDue and RaiTre;

• RaiTre; • six specialised channels - Rai 4, Rai News, Rai Storia, Rai Sport 1, Rai Sport 2 and Rai Gulp.

In the 'all digital' areas, thanks to the greater broadcasting capacity available after the switch-off, these are joined by five more free channels which, at the end of the digitalisation process, which could be brought forward to 2011, will be available nationwide:

• four specialised channels - Rai 5, Rai Movie, Rai Premium, Rai YoYo;

• a High Definition channel - Rai HD.

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.

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.

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, to create the first Italian free satellite platform (Tivù Sat), which, launched in July 2009, offers viewers the chance to access free digital channels via satellite.

Besides replicating the complete offering of long-standing Italian general-interest television channels and the new channels broadcast on DTT Satellite, the satellite platform also offers access to numerous other Italian and international television channels.

The offering of Tivù Sat is evolving constantly and has progressed from having about 20 national channels when it was launched, to having a bouquet of no fewer than fifty national and international channels.
Programming covers all genres: from entertainment to culture, from information to sport, from music to lifestyle, home shopping and gaming. The network is characterized by the presence of the most important international broadcasters of all-news and other genres.

The satellite platform also broadcasts the free programming of Rai Scuola, produced largely in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, University and Research, aimed at primary and secondary school children, with programming dedicated to various subjects and topics, including science, English and road use safety.

Rai's international offering is also broadcast through the satellite platform and currently consists of four networks:

•Rai Italia;
•Yes Italia;
•Rai Med;
•Euronews.

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.

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.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.

Rai.tv's offering was expanded in terms of video quality and the variety of contents and services offered to users in 2010.

Rai's website offers:

• In live streaming mode: 16 TV channels, 8 radio channels, 3 web radio channels and 16 specialised web channels;

• In on-demand mode: numerous programmes broadcast on the three general-interest channels, on specialised channels and extra productions created exclusively for Rai web.

The 'video chat' format was also consolidated. In 2010 Rai.tv was enriched with the launch of the innovative new Rai Replay service, which enables users to access the programming of RaiUno, RaiDue and RaiTre broadcast over the previous seven days and to see repeats of all the programming in high quality streaming.

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 the Rai radio and TV channels and the community that enables interaction with Rai's most popular programmes and celebrities.

Digital Internet protocol television (Iptv)

Iptv is another complementary broadcasting platform 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 a video on demand service called 'Rai On', split into several theme-based channels featuring current and past Rai programmes.

During 2010 Rai continued to implement the theme-based channels of Rai On: Culture, Entertainment, News and Sport, Fiction, Junior, for the Vod TV platform. Every month the offering envisages new contents and special scheduling for every channel, to enhance the value of television events and current affairs and metatelevision schedules.

Smartphone and tablet

Numerous successful applications were launched during 2010 for users of stateof- the-art mobile devise, comprising: RadioRai, Isola dei famosi, X Factor, the World Cup in South Africa, TG3, TG1 and the Rai Programme Guide.