The new CEO of RAI, Carlo Fuortes, presented himself to the Supervisory Commission to present the state of form of RAI, which is not in great conditions. RAI revenues must increase and Fuortes illustrated four proposals, including the extension of the fee to multimedia devices.
Secondo Fuortes, “The current resources deriving from the license fee and the downsizing of advertising undermine the current industrial perimeter (and its related activities), the renewal and transformation path of the Public Service.”
RAI is at a loss
The license fee is RAI’s main source of income. Italians pay a total of € 1.726 billion, which represents a 73% slice of revenues. Advertising brings 21% of revenues, equal to approximately 501 million in 2020. Despite a total of 2.36 billion in revenues, in 2020 RAI recorded a loss of 20 million euros, in any case down compared to 35 in 2019.
Fuortes told the commission’s parliamentarians that the decline in RAI’s revenues between 2008 and 2020 was 700 million euros, equal to -22%. Part of these lost revenues derive from the 2,400 million euros withheld by the State over 8 years on the fee paid which, in itself, has been defined “incongruo”Compared to that of other European countries, which is higher.
RAI revenues must be increased: the fee on the devices is in the future
To start settling things, Fuortes listed four proposals that, he said, would not affect “on the pockets of Italians“. He imagined fully recognizing the fee resources to state TV by eliminating the 110 million euro deduction that goes to the publishing fund, canceling the concession tax on the ordinary fee which is equal to 4.18 euro on each user, reshape the limit for each segment to 8% as regards advertising, and extend the fee to multimedia devices.
When an MP asked Fuortes if this latest proposal would still have an impact on users, the CEO said that “it would affect a rather small percentage of total users at the moment that does not impact users because it does not even impact RAI.”
These words, which seem incongruous, were better explained later in the hearing when Fuortes made it clear that the problem will arise in the future “gradually as these technologies“Will take hold and allow you to see RAI from an instrument that is not a television.
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