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An Embarrassment of Riches for RAI

First a word about Rai in general, because one tends to confuse the waving and sinewy arms of this vast and multi-headed beast which smells of lavender and politics.

There are three RAI channels, RAI 1, RAI 2 and RAI 3. Rai Fiction is the producing arm, Rai Trade is the merchandising and distribution arm, which organizes the Cartoons on the Bay festival. There are two RAI satellite channels: Rai Sat Yoyo, for children up to six years old and Rai Sat Smash, which focuses on an audience, ages 6-10.

The heads of the various stations have traditionally been assigned by a political spoils...

First a word about Rai in general, because one tends to confuse the waving and sinewy arms of this vast and multi-headed beast which smells of lavender and politics.

There are three RAI channels, RAI 1, RAI 2 and RAI 3. Rai Fiction is the producing arm, Rai Trade is the merchandising and distribution arm, which organizes the Cartoons on the Bay festival. There are two RAI satellite channels: Rai Sat Yoyo, for children up to six years old and Rai Sat Smash, which focuses on an audience, ages 6-10.

The heads of the various stations have traditionally been assigned by a political spoils system, as in the previous center-right administration. Right now, the old contracts have expired, and the board of directors named by the previous Berlusconi (president of Mediaset, the leading competitor to RAI) government is about to name new directors. Got all that? Currently, instead of insisting on replacing the entire board of directors, the center-left government is pondering a law to have the stations managed by a foundation and remove them from pernicious political influence and vicious budgetary axes. We wish them well in this endeavor.

The formula for investment in productions at Rai is 15% of the general income, including advertising income and the hated "canone" -- the bill which arrives to all Italians for public television, around â¬100 per family at present. Of that, 5% or currently â¬18 million is reserved for animation, and Rai Fiction is the producing entity. They have an impressive and varied slate of including Winx Club, Cooking Italian with Arturo and Kiwi, Monster Allergy, Water and Bubbles (Acqua in Boca) and around 50 new titles. They now have warehoused more than 600 hours of animation programming, leading to a little problem... They now have too much product for the timeslots available.

"RAI Fiction has an obligation to continue making product," affirms Anita Romanelli, exec producer for RAI Fiction. "So we are sort of stuck. Should the channels buy less foreign product?" She points out that the longer prognosis is better, with the satellite channels and the upcoming digitalization of the broadcast spectrum. Claudia Sasso, head of children's programming for RAI 2 suggests another intriguing possibility. "Our new format for Albero Azzurro will be in 15 minute modules," she said, referring to their leading children's show. "This new formula will transform the product for an international standard."

RAI broadcasts children's programming from 7-9:30 every morning on RAI 2, (which is focused on pre-schoolers after 8:10 am) , as well as a half hour of classic cartoons for co-viewing from 8-8:30 am. There is also an afternoon schedule from 3-5:30 pm on RAI 3. The flavor of what is offered is distinctly different between them, RAI 3 concentrating on refined, auto-conclusive European product, while RAI 2 features more transgressive "international product" which can be from any region. This clear identification of products and timeslots has worked well for RAI, since they regularly beat the competition when they stay within those clearly established parameters.

This steady state may be about to change, however. The center-left government has mandated a new "service contract" which adds a four-hour time block to be divided between the three RAI networks to be aimed at the after school crowd, and age targets will rise to pre-teens and even the 15-17 block. This will mean going head to head with Italia Uno, the Mediaset station, who prefers to buy content internationally and regularly pillories Rai in the late afternoon slots and with the teen audience.

Perhaps with this new format, Rai programmers and Rai Fiction producers will be able to concentrate on co-viewing and more mature product, and finally find a home for productions that break the standard genre molds such as the acerbic Rat Man, which has so far had difficulty finding a proper timeslot.