Television in Italy was introduced in 1939, when the first experimental broadcasts began. However, this lasted for a very short time: when fascist Italy entered World War II in 1940, all transmissions were interrupted, and were resumed in earnest only nine years after the end of the war, on January 3, 1954. There are two main national television organisations responsible for most of the viewership: state-owned RAI, accounting for 37% of the total viewing figures in May 2014, and Mediaset, a commercial network which holds about 33%. The third largest player is the Italian branch of Warner Bros. Discovery, which has a viewing share of 5.8%, whereas the fourth largest player is Cairo Communication with a viewing share of 3.5%. According to the BBC, the Italian television industry is widely considered both inside and outside the country to be overtly politicized. Unlike the BBC which is controlled by a board of governors regulated by Ofcom, the public broadcaster RAI is under direct control of the parliament. According to a December 2008 poll, only 24% of Italians trusted television news programmes, compared unfavourably to the British rate of 38%, making Italy one of only three examined countries where online sources are considered more reliable than television ones for information. Terrestrial television has historically been the dominant form of transmission in the country.

Television providers

Digital terrestrial television

Digital terrestrial television technology has expanded rapidly and now every major network in Italy (including RAI and Mediaset) transmits in DVB-T format, while analog broadcasts were continued until the end of the transition, originally set by law to December 31, 2006, but later pushed back to the end of 2012. The Berlusconi II Cabinet started promoting the digital format in December 2003 by granting a public financial contribution for the purchase of a MHP digital television decoder. Starting from January 2005 Mediaset and Telecom Italia Media started offering pay TV services through a prepaid smartcard, including football games, movies and TV shows. In February 2006, during the 2006 Winter Olympics held in Turin, RAI experimentally broadcast a number of sport events using a 1080i signal and H264 coding. The HD signal has been transmitted over the Turin area, using DVB-T hierarchical modulation, and only specially crafted decoders have been able to receive this signal: they were placed in strategical points in the town. During the UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2008 Summer Olympics, RAI started experimental high definition broadcasting on Rai Test HD, available only in Turin, Milan, Rome, Sardinia and Aosta Valley, continuing with the 2008 UCI Road World Championships and a few matches of the UEFA Champions League. In July 2008 the European Commission's directorate for competition expressed concerns on whether the actions taken by the current Italian government would be able to alter the current status of duopoly in the broadcasting market held by RAI and Mediaset. Beginning October 31, 2008, in the first region of Italy planned to interrupt analog transmission, Sardinia, television networks broadcast multiplexes only in digital format. Licence fee payers from the region were entitled to a 50 euros discount off the price of a digital television decoder or a new, digital-compatible TV set. In April 2021, Byoblu began a national broadcaster and the first Italian TV network that was financially supported by private citizen's donations.

Satellite television

Italy has had digital satellite broadcasts since the 1990s, with the launch of Stream TV and TELE+. In 2003 these merged into Sky Italia, today this pay TV platform is broadcasting from Hot Bird satellites. HDTV regular services started in June 2006 under the name Sky HD, with the broadcasting of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in High Definition. As of today, almost all channels on the platform broadcasts in HD. Tivù Sat, a Free Satellite Service similar to the UK version Freesat, was launched in June 2009, ensuring access to national television channels from digital terrestrial television networks. Shareholders include Mediaset, Telecom Italia Media and the State-owned company Rai.

Pay television

Current providers

Defunct providers

Cable television

In the 1960s the public television network RAI was a monopoly and the only network authorized to broadcast in Italy. Giuseppe Sacchi, a former RAI editor, launched on April 21, 1971, the first "free" television station, called Telebiella and based in Biella. It started to broadcast on April 6, 1972, devoted primarily to news and information. Immediately the government led by Giulio Andreotti forced Sacchi to dismantle Telebiella. Later a new law was issued to regulate and allow cable broadcasting, although with tight limitations: only one cable system for every city and only one TV channel for each system. Cable television remained undeveloped for many years, with the exception of a few amateur projects. In the 1990s, first Telecom Italia and then Fastweb created optical fiber networks and launched their IPTV offers (however associated with Sky Italia or Mediaset Premium subscriptions). IPTV was the only service to offer video on demand up until 2009.

List of nationwide television stations

All channels broadcast 24 hours, and are in 16:9 format. On satellite, as a result of restrictions on broadcasting rights, most of RAI's channels are permanently encrypted, and broadcast free-to-view through the Tivúsat platform, or are temporarily encrypted when needed. However, Rai 1, 2, 3, Storia, Scuola and Gulp are left unencrypted. The channels from 10 to 19 are made available for Italian regional television.

RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A.

Rai is Italy's national public broadcasting company, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Rai's broadcasts are also able to be received in neighboring countries, including Albania, Croatia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, Slovenia, Vatican City, southern Switzerland, and across Europe on satellite. It is one of the 23 founding broadcasting organizations of the European Broadcasting Union.

Mediaset S.p.A.

Mediaset is the largest commercial broadcaster in Italy. The group competes primarily against the public broadcaster and market leader RAI. Due to their proximity to (or encirclement by) Italy, Albania, Croatia, Switzerland, Malta, San Marino, the Vatican City and Slovenia can also receive Mediaset broadcasts. In addition to their domestic television channels, Mediaset also operates a series of news, entertainment and sport websites; owns 50.1% of the Spanish broadcasting firm Mediaset España Comunicación; owns the film production company Medusa Film; and heads a consortium which owns the television production house Banijay.

Cairo Communication S.p.A.

Warner Bros. Discovery Italia S.r.l.

Sky Italia S.r.l.

Paramount Networks Italia S.r.l.

Boing S.p.A. (51% Mediaset, 49% Warner Bros. Discovery)

Byoblu Edizioni S.r.l.s

Television Broadcasting System S.r.l.

Alma Media S.p.A.

GEDI Gruppo Editoriale S.p.A.

RTL 102.5 HIT RADIO S.r.l

Liberty Interactive

GM Comunicazione S.r.l.

Other national channels

Network of local televisions

Foreign channels

Lower channels, teleshopping channel, lower network and local channels

Digital satellite only (free to air)

Foreign channels

Italian programming

Top Crime

Premium Crime

AXN

Former channels

Most viewed channels

The Auditel measures television ratings in Italy. The two most watched channels are still Rai 1 and Canale 5 which together share 33% of the audience. Following these in terms of ratings are Rai 3 and Rai 2 with 14% of total share and finally a third group of stations made up of Italia 1 and Rete 4 which together reach 12% of TV ratings. Apart from the seventh ex analogue television La7 with a market share of 4%. All the six RAI and Mediaset generalist channels had a slightly lower daily audience in 2013 compared with previous years, while Comcast's pay TV platform called Sky Italia (with its channels like Fox, Fox Crime, Sky Cinema and Sky Sport), nationwide channel La7 owned by Cairo Communication and several new free-to-air digital stations (like Giallo, Rai 4, Iris, La5, Real Time, K2, Rai Premium, Top Crime, Cielo, DMAX) are increasing in ratings day by day.