Rai, towards a new waltz of appointments: on Tg2 Rao on pole in place of Sangiuliano. The board of directors meets again

The change of government brings new balances to public television, even if changes in the publications and changes in the top team of the company are not yet imminent. After the first meeting with the premier Georgia Melons of last week, the ad Charles Fuortes seems willing to carry on his project in Rai. The board of directors is meeting again today, but there will be no talk of appointments: in addition to the approval of the separate accounting for the 2021 financial year, there are also updates on the Rai Way affair, on the industrial plan and on the service contract.

The Rossi case

Last Wednesday’s meeting with Melons he was “informal, cordial and interlocutory”, as sources in Viale Mazzini said. The premier would be willing to rebalance the structure of public TV, after the choice made by the rest of the center-right during the Draghi government, a choice contested by her party, to leave out of the board Giampaolo Rossi. This is today the name that is made for the succession of Fuortes or for a role as general manager, an alternative that should however have the consent of the CEO. To ensure that Rossi can enter the field before 2024, when the current board of directors expires, and then remain at the top until the end of the legislature, a modification of the legislation on the ceiling of the two mandates would be necessary, which is not easy to implement. So here are already the names of other possible successors such as Marcello Ciannamea and Roberto Sergio.

Fact is that Fuortes he certainly does not intend to step aside and, even if the hypotheses of possible positions at the helm of prestigious theaters are rampant, he continues in his action with the horizon of the three-year mandate. This is demonstrated by his presence yesterday at the press conference for the presentation of the new morning show by Fiorello, on which there is also a lot of focus to raise the ratings of Rai2. Good news for the company comes from the results of Marco Bellocchio’s Interno Notte and the World Cup. Fuortes it also has another arrow in its bow, that of corporate accounts, because the balance sheet at the end of the year is expected to be balanced.

The appointment to Tg2 in place of Sangiuliano

On the horizon is the appointment to Tg2, after the passage of Gennaro Sangiuliano to the Ministry of Culture and the interim a Charles Pielici. It will be decided by the end of January. The name in pole position for the succession is that of the deputy director of Tg1, Nicholas Rao. If the waltz of appointments were to be wider, the seat of Tg1 could come back into play, even if at the moment Monica Maggioni appears steady at the helm. In the short term, perhaps as early as this week, the political framework will also be completed with the formation of the Supervisory Commission: the presidency should go to Italia Viva, with Maria Elena Boschi unless in the end the Movimento 5 Stelle (the names of Stefano Patuanelli and Riccardo Ricciardi are mentioned).