Urbano Cairo: for La7 'best year ever' and first profit (of 100,000 euros)
Cairo Communication's network programme schedules presented. Which returns to rule out any involvement in politics. And on Rai: 'La7 does a lot of public service, but has no advertising'.
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'For La7 it was the best year ever'. Urbano Cairo looks back on the past year and on 2024 as the turning point years for the television broadcaster acquired 11 years ago from Telecom Italia Media La7. "The year 2023 closed for La7 with a very small profit of €100,000, the best one ever achieved in my business, a fantastic turnaround and I am very happy about it. Advertising also did well, which should have posted 'a growth of 3.5 per cent' in the first half of the year (the final figure will be announced with the half-yearly report). If we then broaden the spectrum to include the subsidiary RCS, 'the first half of the year went well; particularly positive was the trend in social media with +53%, and online was good, with newspapers and magazines in line with last year'.
The setting for the presentation of La7's programming for the new season has - after many years - changed. No longer the Four Seasons, but the Hotel Principe di Savoia. What hasn't changed is the formula: a quick description of the season's novelties and then questions, across the board, on present (publishing and Turin football) and future activities.
Cairo: 'No to my involvement in politics'
Or rather, better said in this case, futuristic, with the president of Cairo Communication, who demurs when asked about his possible future entry into politics to create a new 'centre'. But then he dryly replies that no, that descent into the field will not take place: 'Either you do one thing or another, I like being an entrepreneur, we have an articulated group with 4,500 employees, how can I think about politics? One would have to say 'I stop being an entrepreneur and do politics'. It's impossible'.
Nor is he able to extract a structured comment on the 'common sense left' cleared by the interview with 'his' Corriere della Sera (which he publishes with his subsidiary Rcs) by Marina Berlusconi. She thinks about it and rethinks, changes expression several times, snorts, but then the answer is 'lateral': 'Compared to what is happening in other countries in Europe, today we have a value, which is stability, which is important. Stability can also allow Giorgia Meloni and the government to do those things that are useful for the country to embark on a path of growth'. Sic.
Criticism from the government? "In 11 years complaints from everyone"
.Of course, there is also to be noted, on the La7-Government axis, the criticism that has come from the Executive and the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of certain programmes such as Piazza Pulita. 'I have been publisher of La7 for 11 years,' Cairo replied, 'and I have always left maximum freedom to journalists and presenters because it is my way of publishing. In recent years I have had complaints from all governments. All those who have governed from 2013 to today have complained privately or publicly'.
