Rai fee, abolish it? The battle is just beginning

The Rai canon theme has always been in the eye of the storm and for years we have heard that it is “the tax most hated by Italians”. Whether it is true or not remains to be demonstrated, especially after its collection takes place through the electricity bill. The fact is that, periodically, its reduction or abolition returns to the attention of politics. This time however there is something new and different. What is new is that we are not, at least formally, in the electoral campaign and therefore it is a matter of an argument which, even if it has a great hold on the public, does not guarantee an immediate "collection" in terms of political consensus.

The difference is that we are faced with a technological contingency which could change, and not a little, the weight and role of the various subjects in the field throughout the perimeter of audiovisual telecommunications. From XNUMXst January next year, in fact, the application of the Community directive on frequency reallocation around 700Mhz, which could have a great impact on the future, not only of technology, of the Public Service provided by Rai. 

Let's go in order. Last June, Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini agreed on the need to address the Rai license fee. On August 8 the Government falls and what happens to it, in point 11 of its program, foresees to address the telecommunications system as a whole, and therefore not only Rai and not only the license fee. Last week, M5S parliamentarian Maria Laura Paixa presented a bill aimed at abolishing an "antiquated, as well as unfair, tax that has no reason to exist ..." to replace it with the inclusion of costs in general taxation. 

In the previous days, the Minister for Regional Affairs Francesco Boccia of the PD, declared: "I don't think a license fee, at the time of the digital society, entirely absorbed by Rai is more tolerable". Finally, just yesterday, in the Parliamentary Supervisory Commission, the Minister of Economic Development Stefano Patuanelli, argued that the Rai fee can be reduced, moreover just a few days after having "stamped" the Industrial Plan of viale Mazzini. Moral of the story: a large part of the government agrees with this initiative, directly or indirectly. 

Everything seems to converge towards the central point: the redefinition of the market for resources in the radio and television sector where the license fee paid to Rai is only part of the problem, while the complementary part is made up of advertising resources in progressive decline in the TV broadcasting sector. Yes they therefore pose two orders of observations: the first refers to the intervention and control of the Government on the use (or abuse) of a tax of unavailable purpose to be used for purposes other than those established by law.

The second aspect refers to the breakdown of a market already in fibrillation, where the revision of the advertising sales ceilings could cause significant upheavals. All of this could happen, as mentioned above, precisely at a time when Italians will soon be asked to put their wallets back in order to modernize their television signal reception equipment to allow for the transition to DVB-T2. The two aspects do not seem disconnected from each other. 

How do they respond to viale Mazzini? CEO Fabrizio Salini recently declared that the Rai license fee is among the lowest in Europe, which in recent years has been reduced while at the same time the Public Service was required to do more things than before and, in part, was subtracted from extra revenue. Others add that the license fee represents a fundamental guarantee of independence from politics. True, but something is missing. Instead, what struggles to emerge is how to justify in front of those who pay the fee, the citizens, because it is right and legitimate, as well as necessary, to support this imposition.

We are in the middle of one epochal upheaval of fruition, of consumption, of audiovisual products that increasingly take place in ways different from the traditional ones: tablets, smartphones, Smart TVs offer new contents, models and languages ​​that require huge resources and wide-ranging industrial projects, i.e. exactly what Rai seems to be lacking. 2020 is just around the corner: the battle is just beginning.