science

Television in Italy

Television in Italy is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Television in Italy rather than just read about it. In short: 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.

Key takeaways

Television in Italy belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Television in Italy to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Television in Italy from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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.

History

After some early tests in the 1930s, Italy experimented first regular electronic television transmissions from July 1939 to May 1940, through the state-owned EIAR. After the war, the state-owned RAI was established and regular transmissions began on 3 January 1954. At the end of the 1970s, local private television networks began broadcasting, among which the ones from Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest emerged in the 1980s, creating a holding that controls three major channels (Rete 4, Canale 5 and Italia 1), opposed still today to the three ones from the RAI itself.

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 Sky (Sky Group), with about 5 million households (transmission: DTH; IPTV; DTT) Now TV (Sky Group) (transmission: IPTV) Infinity TV (Mediaset) (transmission: IPTV) TIMvision (Telecom Italia), with almost 2 million households (transmission: IPTV) Discovery+ (Warner Bros. Discovery) (transmission: IPTV) Chili; pay-per-view only (transmission: IPTV) Netflix (Netflix, Inc.) Disney+ (Disney) Amazon Prime Video (Amazon) DAZN (DAZN Group)

Defunct providers Mediaset Premium (Mediaset) (transmission: DTT; IPTV) Europa 7 HD (Centro Europa 7 srl) (transmission: DTT) Dahlia TV (Airplus TV) (transmission: DTT) TV di Fastweb (Fastweb) (transmission: IPTV) Infostrada TV (Infostrada) (transmission: IPTV) Tiscali TV (Tiscali) (transmission: IPTV) Tele+ (Telepiù S.p.A.), with 1,8 million households in 2002 (transmission: DTH) Stream TV (Telecom Italia and News Corp) (transmission: DTH; Cable)

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Television in Italy

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Television in Italy claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Television in Italy before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Television in Italy ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Television in Italy

In research: Television in Italy appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Television in Italy in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Television in Italy is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Entertainment in Italy, Italian-language television, Television by country, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Television in Italy outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Television in Italy in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Television in Italy means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Television in Italy out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Television in Italy in simple terms?

Why does Television in Italy matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Television in Italy?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Television in Italy.