Rossi (Rai): 'No backward steps on the real estate plan: Rai is not a museum'

Minister Giuli calls for the preservation of its public dimension.

Very well. If the Ministry of Culture or other bodies want to acquire it, Rai will provide materials, sets, display cases. But one cannot ask Rai to become a digital media company and at the same time chain it to a museum dimension.

Ithere was a recall of Ranucci. Isn't it, as the critics say, the annoyance of this Rai against investigative journalism? 

But for goodness sake. Rai cherishes investigative journalism, which is part of its history. But the Public Service protects journalism based on verified, rigorous facts. It cannot tolerate that an accusation against a minister, or any citizen, is based on a source that is claimed to be unverified. Ranucci was allowed to go on a programme to present his book, not to participate in a talk.

The real original sin is Rai's dependence on politics. And for you the accusation is that you are particularly driven by politics.

Rarely has Rai been as plural as this season. Report and Far West, Gomez and Giletti, Cerno and Damilano coexist. There is no longer a single-colour Rai 3. This is why I reject the idea of a Rai crushed on one political side. Then it is a public service. It is natural for politics to give strategic indications. If anything, the problem is the intrusiveness, which depends from politician to politician. It depends on the season.

And what season is this?

Constructive. Rai remains one of the best European broadcasters. With resources among the lowest in Europe, it produces television and radio, supports cinema, fiction, and audiovisuals in Italia. We are an industrial hub.

Without a president. 

Simona Agnes was not ratified by the Supervisory Board and the statute stipulates that the functions are to be exercised by the senior director, Antonio Marano. Rai was and still is 100% operational. However, the key point is one: European public services exist if they have certain and continuous resources to invest.

Well, you have the licence fee. There has also been talk of loosening or removing advertising caps to lower or eliminate it. Would you agree to that? 

The advertising market is unstable by definition. You cannot replace the public function with the market alone. More than anything, 110 million of the licence fee, which is earmarked for the publishing fund, is taken away from Rai every year. I have been calling for years for those resources to be returned to Rai.

About resources, in the background is the marriage between RaiWay and EI Towers. We noted in Il Sole 24 Ore that negotiations are stalled as the 15 June deadline approaches.

At the end of the term, each subject will take its decisions in full autonomy, on the basis of the elements gathered and in compliance with their respective mandates. Rai's objective remains only one: to make choices that are industrially sound, sustainable in the long term and consistent with the public interest.

Themed ratings. In the season from 14 September 2025 until 25 April, according to Studio Frasi data Rai is in the red by 6.5% in prime time and 0.88% on the average day. State of alarm?

Rai's three generalist channels beat Mediaset's three generalist channels. The overtaking of the Mediaset group comes when adding the specialised channels, which are more numerous and cannot be compared to Rai Storia or Rai Scuola. There is, however, a broader phenomenon: the attrition of linear TV. The audience is getting older, the fruition is shifting to video on demand. RaiPlay is nevertheless one of the most advanced platforms in Europe.

You have lost ground in sport and in particular in tennis: Atp Finals at Mediaset and Internazionali d'Italia have been the talk of the town. They have been the talk of the town

On the Internazionali d'Italia Rai has lost nothing: the rights belong to Sky, which has chosen to keep them free to air on its channels this year. On the Atp Finals we made an important offer, but the final figure was deemed by us to be out of the market. I recall that Rai won the Football World Cup 2026 and the America's Cup.

In the meantime, there is great excitement among audiovisual producers. By now the access has devoured prime time. Going back?

This is a reflection that Rai is making. European entertainment and drama formats are shorter than those we adopt in Italia. This is why RAI is starting with some experimentation. Already tonight the fiction 'Roberta Valente Notary in Sorrento' will be broadcast in a format in line with European standards. Producers of both fiction and entertainment will be asked to commit to more agile content.

Is the dual union of RAI journalists a positive aspect or does it mark a rift?

Trade union pluralism is a value. The anomaly was that two thousand journalists were represented for decades by one union. The arrival of a second union is an enrichment.