The so-called Rai "quarrels" are not, as they sometimes appear, only internal intrigues in one of the palaces of power. They often summarize, reflect on and involve even a large part of the country's economy. If and in what way the main national radio and television operator participates in the country's major technological innovation processes, see Industry 4.0, it has a significant impact on the overall dynamics underway. Who directs it, who guides it and draws its strategic perspectives, assumes a fundamental role. So, to stick to the news of these days, who takes the trouble to notify the Rai General Manager, Antonio Campo Dall'Orto, that he must vacate the office on the seventh floor of Viale Mazzini as soon as possible? The subjects, in order, can be: the Board of Directors, the majority shareholder, the Anti-Corruption Authority of Raffaele Cantone.
At the moment, none of the Rai directors has prepared a no-confidence motion which, at least, should be agreed in advance with the Ministry of the Economy. "We don't know anything in this sense" is whispered in the corridors of Viale Mazzini. Let us try to translate: the change of the General Manager is not on the agenda of the next council which, according to a careful reading of the provisions on the subject, could foreshadow a simultaneous fall of the BoD, which, despite all the troubles, is not seen at all with pleasure from the current councillors. The rock, it seems, is the possible successor. One hypothesis was a sort of interim of the current President, Monica Maggioni, but, apparently, the transfer of proxies is not a simple matter. Then the name of Giancarlo Leone emerged, recently released from Rai and last month appointed President of the Television Producers Association, but his candidacy soon faded and Leone immediately called himself out.
The second subject, the majority shareholder, ie Minister Padoan, at the moment seems to have quite other concerns and, in any case, it is an operation that lives under the umbrella of a political contingency that is anything but serene. Finally, the third, Raffaele Cantone, after having clearly expressed his disappointment "... Rai was my greatest disappointment ..." does not seem to have any particular powers to intervene with such force as to force the General Manager to resign, except to exercise a sort of moral suasion with uncertain outcomes.
Moral, as told by those familiar with the secret alchemies of Rai: nothing will happen to the next board of directors. Except for twists and turns which, in a place where we talk about entertainment, are always possible.
Meanwhile, however, behind the lines, a major battle is about to take place: the new Service Contract. An internal Rai working group has been set up to prepare a draft to be agreed with the Ministry and then submitted to the Parliamentary Supervisory Commission. The topics on the table are extremely important and, without intending to assign scores, we will list some of them briefly. First of all, the accounting separation, ie the principle of the economic resources to be assigned to the so-called "public service" programs compared to those of a more commercial nature. What are or what should be the principles governing this mechanism? A second point is the question of the coverage of the radio and television signal on the national territory: it was written in the recently approved Convention, which should be equal to 100% but which, for known reasons also due to the orographic characteristics of the country, is very difficult to achieve. The third properly concerns the mission of the Public Service and therefore the programming that should fulfill this task: for example, those dedicated to minors rather than linguistic minorities. Finally, and it is certainly not the last question, the editorial plan on information which, as is known, is still one of the main obstacles on which the Rai ship could crash.
Yesterday, to close the overview of Viale Mazzini and its surroundings, the hearing of the new top management of Rai Way took place before the Parliamentary Supervisory Authority on Rai. As stated by the recently appointed new leaders, everything is proceeding in the best possible way. On the subject of the tower pole, the President of Rai Way, Raffelle Agrusti, repeated what is known: there are no news on the horizon and no disposal of the public share from the company capital is envisaged. As we have written several times: everyone agrees, openly or not, on the need for the tower pole operation to be carried out - Ei Towers is always there waiting for signals - as an operation with a strong industrial policy rationale for the country and, nevertheless, we do not want, or cannot, take steps forward in this direction. But the reason remains to be understood.
