The mission of general Public Service broadcasting is founded in the principles of the Italian Constitution and of the European Union in the ‘Television Without Frontiers’ Directive of 1989 and subsequent amendments, the ninth protocol on the system of public broadcasting as part of the 1993 Amsterdam Treaty, and the subsequent interpretative Communication of the Commission of the European Communities 2009/C 257/01 published in the Official Gazette dated 27 October 2009.

This mission is governed by Italian legislation and regulation, in compliance with the aforementioned principles.

Specifically, the Public Service obligations are defined by a series of sources, including Italian Law 249 of 31 July 1997, Law 112 of 3 May 2004, the Consolidated Broadcasting Law approved by Italian legislative decree no. 177 of 31 July 2005, and by the Service Contract entered into with the Ministry of Economic Development.

In accordance with Article 45 of the Consolidated Broadcasting Law, general Public Service broadcasting must establish the minimum content requirements that can be integrated through the service contract, so as to provide for the following:
a) the broadcast of all public service television and radio transmissions throughout Italy to the extent possible based on current science and technology;
b) a sufficient number of hours of television and radio broadcasts dedicated to education, information, and cultural promotion, with particular emphasis on promoting theatre, cinema, television (including foreign language programmes), and music which is either of significant artistic value or particularly innovative; such number of hours is set every three years by the Communications Authority; children’s entertainment broadcasts are not included in these hours;
c) the broadcast of the programming specified under point (b) above in a proportionate manner across all time periods, including those with the highest viewing figures, and across all television and radio networks;
d) access to programming, within the limits and in accordance with the methods established by law, in favour of political parties and groups represented in Parliament and in regional assemblies and councils, of local self-government associations, national trade unions, religious groups, political movements, political and cultural associations, legally recognized national associations of the cooperative movement, associations for social promotion listed in regional and national registers, ethnic and linguistic groups, and other groups of social significance that should request it;
e) the establishment of a company for the production, distribution, and broadcast of radio and television programming abroad for the purpose of promoting the Italian language, culture, and economy by broadcasting programmes and the nation’s leading audiovisual productions;
f) the broadcast of television and radio programming in German and Ladin for the autonomous province of Bolzano, in Ladin for the autonomous province of Trento, in French for the autonomous region of Valle d’Aosta, and in Slovenian for the autonomous region of Friuli- Venezia Giulia;
g) the free broadcast of public service messages required by the Italian Prime Minister’s Office and the broadcast of sufficient information regarding Italian roadways and traffic;
h) the broadcast, at appropriate times, of content specifically designed for children and which takes account of the needs and sensitivities of all childhood age groups;
i) the maintenance of radio and television archives and the guarantee of public access to such archives;
j) the allocation of no less than 15% of total annual revenues to the production of European programming, including programmes produced by independent providers;
k) the provision, within the terms specified by Italian Law 112 of 3 May 2004, of the infrastructure for digital terrestrial broadcasting; l) the provision of interactive digital public services;
m) observance of the limits of advertising defined by Article 38 of the Consolidated Broadcasting Law;
n) the distribution of the broadcasting company in one or more national offices and in branches in each region and, for the region of Trentino-Alto Adige, in the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano;
o) the adoption of appropriate accessibility measures for the hearing and vision impaired;
p) the promotion and strengthening of decentralized production centres;
q) the provision of distance learning services.