A widespread and consolidated cliché wants television to be considered the mirror where the country's politics, economy and culture are reflected. With the opening of the polls in the recent national political consultations that kicked off the new legislature, starting from 2018, interesting news can be glimpsed in the complex world of telecommunications. One step back and two forwards: first of all, a fundamental reference pillar in the complex system of telecommunications and broadcasting in Italy has failed.
The so-called Rai Mediaset "duopoly" comes out greatly reduced in the political coverage they have enjoyed so far. The respective parties of reference, the government area headed by the PD and Forza Italia, are no longer able to give their cards at the table where the most important matches of the near future are being played. In this same future, new players are beginning to take their place with intentions that are anything but clear with respect to the stakes.
Let's start by seeing what could change for the Public Radio and Television Service. The expiry of the current Board of Directors is scheduled for the end of next June, which will have to be appointed with the new law that came into force in 2015, strongly desired by the previous government led by Matteo Renzi. This provides for fundamental innovations: first of all, the number changes - from nine to seven - and the criterion for designating the members of the BoD who will no longer be expressed by the Parliamentary Supervisory Commission, as previously.
Now, however, two will be respectively indicated by the Chamber, two by the Senate, two by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers on the proposal of the MEF, and one by Rai employees. It is a radical genetic mutation both in the "political" inspiration of the new governance and in the "industrial" interpretation. The willingness, apparently shared by all, to disengage the public radio and television service from the interference of politics has been known for some time, only to find in fact the persistence of consolidated uses and abuses.
This time the legislator wanted to further restrict the broad links of political control by moving the axis from the areas of Supervision to the broader ones of the House and Senate. As a point of compensation we wanted to add, to represent in a certain sense "the majority shareholder", the appointment of two members of the government in office. Finally, the icing on the cake is represented by the presence of Rai employees on the Board of Directors who, for the first time, will be able to have a say in the future of the Company (the specific regulation for consultation will be announced on 7 April).
All this should take place with the natural expiry of the current Council, within the next three months. Now, at the moment, the enormous difficulties that stand in the way of the composition of a new Government of the country are known and no one is able to imagine the timing and ways of solving this decisive institutional transition. The most optimistic, even in Viale Mazzini, imagine that, even if it goes, they will go to prorogatio at least until the autumn when, perhaps, the government turmoil could be appeased.
It should also be remembered that this new law, together with other significant innovations, introduces and strengthens the new figure of the "company manager" who from General Manager (now Mario Orfeo, journalist) becomes Chief Executive Officer, with higher management powers than Before.
So let's come to the industrial reading that can be glimpsed in this scenario. Rai will be strongly interested in the launch of that massive frequency redistribution plan which will begin with the opening of the consultations by AgCom by 30 April next, to define the criteria for carrying out the related assignment tenders which will have to start within next 30 September under the guidance of the MiSe. For the public service, not only the fate of the current multiplexes is at stake but rather the general model of production and distribution of the radio and television signal.
Let us just dwell on the use of the TV product: consumers, viewers, are gradually shifting their attention from a linear programming - the current method of reception through digital terrestrial or satellite antennas - to a non-linear one, through the connection in net. The download speed of content and programs that will be possible to reach with 5G will be such as to make it uninteresting to turn on the television as has been the case up to now. For some time now, and not only in Italy, the audiovisual market has seen strong growth in the presence of colossal operators, the various Netflix, Amazon, Google, etc., capable of offering highly attractive products at decreasing prices.
The TV sets themselves have been on sale for some time already set up for connection to the network and soon the antenna on the roof may no longer be needed. For Rai, whether we like it or not, this new world represents a threat for the near future and it is not at all clear at the moment how we intend to deal with it and, precisely, this will be one of the first tasks of the new Board of Directors.
Then there are other important appointments which will shortly affect Viale Mazzini. The Rai Way shareholders' meeting will be held on 23 April. Although they do not appear on the agenda, two questions are being raised: the first concerns the possibility of taking up the age-old, by now, idea of the "pole of the towers" which has never been fully spelled out by any of the interested parties.
For some time now, the Company has been entrenched behind the institutional silence where the significant silence of the majority shareholder can be glimpsed who, on the subject, is also silent, waiting for something more to emerge than what has been known up to now. Operation Persidera having been wrecked, nothing significant can be seen on the horizon. The second concerns the board of directors of the Via Teulada listed company: the current president outside the company is still in office and the board where the majority is represented by independents.
Another area of important importance concerns the start of application of the new service contract. There are commitments at stake with significant economic repercussions such as the new industrial plan, the editorial plan, a new English-language channel and the institutional channel. Basically, Rai is asked to do more with fewer resources. Not an easy challenge for new administrators to face.
Now let's see what could change with the new political subjects who could lead the country. Last July, the M5S announced its action program towards Rai essentially centered on two pillars: a different governance criterion (the British model is assumed with a Foundation at the helm) and funding where the license fee is still present, possible elimination of some channels and greatly reduced advertising. The latter aspect inevitably has a strong impact on the market and is of considerable interest to the main direct competitor.
Speaking of the market and Rai's economic resources, the leader of the Northern League, Matteo Salvini, has always supported the thesis of abolishing the license fee and replacing it with a public contribution. Furthermore, in the program of the Northern League, we read that "The Communications Authority replaces the current AgCom" appointed by Parliament with the task of producing "the measurement of the digital performance of the radio and television public service by innovating the auditel detection methods, will propose to the Parliament the rules for the transparent management of electoral communication".
In this context and with these assumptions that do not only concern Rai, it would not be entirely inappropriate to imagine such profound transformations and regulations, in other words a new Integrated Communications System more than 20 years after its birth, capable of giving the country a industrial project in this sector adapted to the relevance of the challenges.
