Events
In 1993, all three the principal Italian television companies (RAI, Finivest and Telemontecarlo) have to face hard financial troubles and the consequences of the Mani Pulite typhoon that upset the political system. Both the talk shows of Michele Santoro and Gad Lerner on RAI 3 and the Fininvest news programs (TG5 and TG4) play an important role in gaining the support of the public opinion on the enquiries. However, Fininvest gives a wide space also to Vittorio Sgarbi, who, in his daily column, defends the politicians investigated and attacks the magistrates with unaudited verbal violence.
RAI
- 3 February: The TG1 director Bruno Vespa, controversial because notoriously bound to the DC, that himself called "my reference editor", resigns after that the journalists have announced a strike against him. On September 8, also the TG3 director Sandro Curzi resigns, to protest against the spending cuts decided by the new RAI board of directors. [1]
- 19 February. The program Un giorno in pretura (A day at the court) gets 7,760 million viewers showing the first Tangentopoli trial, to the Milan council clerk Walter Armanini. Since 28 October, the same program gets an again broader audience airing the process to the Montedison manager Sergio Cusani, where the Procurator Antonio Di Pietro harasses important politicians as Arnaldo Forlani and Bettino Craxi. Umberto Eco is among the few to criticize the use of the television as a pillory. [1]
- 25 June Reform of RAI. By now, the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Senate (Giorgio Napolitano and Giovanni Spadolini) nominate the Administrative Council of the estate, that elects at its turn the general director. [2]
- 13 July. Installation of the new board of directors, the so-called "Professors" (also if really the professors are only two on five); Claudio Demattè is elected president, Gianni Locatelli general director. One of the first choices of the new board is to delete the very popular show Saluti e baci, considered vulgar and too expensive. The "professors" have the commission to the settle the RAI budget and to free the estate from the political conditionings, but in both cases, they get limited results. [2]
- 27-28July: in Milan, five persons die in via Palestro massacre and, simultaneously, in Rome 2 bombs explode near San Giovani in Laterano and San Giorgio in Velabro; all the attacks are of Mafia origin. A dramatic and very long TG1 extraordinary edition, hosted by Angela Buttiglione, follows live the events of the "night of the bombs", from midnight do dawn. [3]
- 27 September Birth of Rai Parlamento, the headline caring the institutional communication, directed by Nuccio Fava. [4]
- 3 November. In a dramatic TV message to the nation the president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro rejects with indignation the charge to have received illicit funds by the secret services when he was interior minister. [5]
- 17 November: the match Italy-Portugal for the qualification to the 1994 FIFA World Cup gets the record audience of the year, with 20, 300 million viewers. [6]
- 25 November-2 December For the last time, Beppe Grillo appears in RAI with a two-part show that gets 14,600 million viewers. The performer attacks harshly the TV publicity and moreover the telephonic society STET, accused to host nasty services and erotic hotlines. (The STET president, Biagio Agnes, former RAI general director, had banished Grillo from the little screen for his attacks to the PSI). Later, Grillo will exhibit only in pay-tv. [7]
- 17 December: the RAI correspondent from New York Maria Giovanna Maglie is forced to resigns for irregularities in the expenses list. [1]
- 24 December: for the first time, Rai airs the Christmas Concert from the Paul VI audience Hall in Vatican, with the presence, among others, of Lucio Dalla and Angelo Branduardi; Elisabetta Gardini presents the show. The event will become a tradition of the Christmas time, aired sometimes by RAI, sometimes by Canale 5. [8]
- ·28 December: after forty years of presence in video, Nicoletta Orsomando retires and is knighted. [9]
- ·30 December : the Ciampi cabinet emanates the so-called "save RAI decree" establishing a capital increase of 500 billion liras and a growth of the canon to avoid the failure of the estate. Silvio Berlusconi accuses Ciampi to waste the taxpayers' money for a RAI controlled by PDS. [2]
Fininvest
For Fininvest, 1993 is a difficult year, with the closure of La Cinq, a growing indebtment with the banks, the arrest for corruption of the manager Aldo Brancher and the perspective of a hostile government if the left wins the next elections. The idea of a direct intervention of Silvio Berlusconi in politics, to save the company interests, begins to circulate. However, Canale 5 confirm its public success, and Enrico Mentana's TG5 is the most viewed news program, overcoming TG1. [10]
- ·7 April : at the Maurizio Costanzo Show , the principal TV stars, both RAI and Fininvest, with the slogan "Forbidding is forbidden", take the field and mobilize the public against the projected regulation that forbids the infomercials inside the TV shows. The initiative is successful and the project is retired. The episode inaugurates the unprejudiced use by Silvio Berlusconi of the television for political purposes. [10]
- 14 May: in Rome, Maurizio Costanzo and his wife Maria De Filippi, leaving the Parioli Theatre after the recording of Maurizio Costanzo Show , escape from a car bomb explosion, thanks to a few seconds delay in the detonation. The bombing, that causes heavy damages and 24 injured, is a reprisal of Cosa Nostra for Costanzo's strong engagement against the organized crime. [11]
- 26 November: in a press conference, broadcast on all the news programs, with a 5 million viewers' audience, Silvio Berlusconi declares himself available to enter politics. [12]
- Maria De Filippi, the future "queen of trash", debuts on Canale 5, substituting Lella Costa as presenter of the show Amici .
Other channels
- Spring: Montedison completes the acquisition of Telemontecarlo by Rede Globo.
- Summer: the pay-tv Tele+2 gets the rights of the Italian football league system, till then always granted to RAI, and hires the most famous TV sport journalist, Aldo Biscardi; on 29 August, the first encrypted match (Lazio-Foggia) is aired. The passage to the pay-tv revolutionizes the Italian football, with the multiplication of early and late kickoffs. [13]
- September: Cinquestelle, Odeon and Tivuitalia unificates in a single circuit, RTA (Reti Televisive Associate). [14]
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