stay or not stay on the bill? All hypotheses and consequences – Corriere.it

Which Rai will be the one that just renewed its top management last May? The new CEO Roberto Sergio, who took over halfway through Carlo Fuortes’ mandate, now has another year in office ahead of him. That’s why his goals are summed up in the slogan: to secure Rai.Which means three things: guaranteeing it “adequate, certain and stable” resources, providing it with an industrial plan within the year, closing the service contract deal in these days.Then there are the long-term strategies that belong to the horizon of the next board of directors which, with the Meloni government remaining in the saddle, could be led by the current general manager Giampaolo Rossi, in continuity with Sergio. But the strategy of the next business plan already has its core: transform Rai into a «digital media company». In other words, make sure – explained Rossi – that the “Rai product intercepts the public wherever they are, at any time and on any device”. A way to “reach new audiences and disseminate your content without limiting yourself to traditional distribution”. But also to «facilitate the connection between the spectator, the territory and the places by creating a strong bond of value and cultural investment». With this, Rai does not intend to abandon traditional platforms, on the contrary, one of the objectives will be to strengthen the ancillary channels. Because the fact that Mediaset with an average share of 35.6% over the whole day beats Rai, which is at 36.7%, is also due to the specialized networks. Which at Mediaset total a 10.3% share against Rai’s 6.7.

Certain resources and the fee issue

The transformation we are talking about will have to find, as has been said, adequate and certain resources. The Ministry of the Economy will decide the fate of the source of 69% of Rai’s resources: the license fee. Whose revenue in 2021 came close to 1.82 billion euros, against 1.72 the year before. With the introduction of the fee into the bill, the number of payers increased from 15 million to 21-22 million and the rate of evasion decreased from 27% to 3%. However, it should be remembered that the portion of the ordinary license fee that is collected by Rai is approximately 86% of the amount paid by the user. The stated objective of the current top management is to ensure that nothing changes except for the better. So, license fee still in the bill but fully paid to Rai. On this point, in an interview with Courier, Rossi said he was confident that for 2024 the fee will remain in the bill. Then a table will be set up which will have to provide for the future. In any case, warned Sergio in Vigilance, “it will be essential to carefully evaluate the effectiveness of the alternative solution and the related risks, identifying the mitigation measures in advance”. In short, somewhere the money will have to enter. As regards advertising, the second source of funding, the crowding limits have been made more stringent in the last two years, so, according to Sergio, «the most reasonable expectations are declining». In the background, but not so much, the issue of costs and debt which amounts to 580 million remains. The strategy that has emerged so far would include the internalization of many productions to reduce costs and the more rational use of local offices. While the card that will be played on the fate of the towers owned by Rai is still covered.