He was in Rai for 33 years and he came out in 2016 after the last years directing Rai 1. At some point, the paths of Giancarlo Leone and the public broadcaster seem to cross again during the weeks when they need to choose the substitute of former CEO Antonio Campo Dall’Orto. “It was a hypothesis, I was aware of that. But Rai’s shareholder is the Ministry of Economy and I’ve had no contact with it. Therefore, I officially pulled myself out without making them uncomfortable. So, I founded Q10 Media and I’m President of APT. My path is somewhere else”. But Rai didn’t come out of Leone’s professional life: he will have to work closely with the public broadcaster in his capacity as President of the Association of Television Producers (APT), appointed in April in place of Marco Follini who decided to go into politics. And now Rai has a new CEO. Leone states: “The return of an authoritative journalist as CEO of Rai after names like Gianni Locatelli or Biagio Agnes is a good sign for the public service. I know Mario Orfeo and I appreciate his quality and clarity of vision”. He also adds: “I expect good things from him and I hope I don’t have to quarrel with him in my role as President. But I will do it if necessary”. Do we start with a threat? No, no way. I refer to the fact that we are on the threshold of important steps such as the renewal of the Service Contract on which the public broadcaster’s investments on independent works are dependant too. In this respect, we expect an increasingly strong commitment from Rai that is the driving force for the Italian audio-visual sector. A claim I often hear is: why couldn’t Rai do by itself, internally? These are reflections arose from a fundamental misunderstanding used by the politics and the careless observers. Premium products, films or TV series, are made by independent producers in Italy. This doesn’t happen for decades between broadcasters who are good “maker-up”. Recalling that a broadcaster can and must produce internally implies an anti-historical element. Rather, there’s another aspect to consider very carefully. Which one? The last Service Contract was written 8 years ago, when Rai’s revenue was higher. The decrease in revenue implied the decrease of investments in independent productions too that were determined on percentage shares. For Rai, Tusmar provides for the obligation to invest 15% of its turnover in European works of independent producers, compared with the 10% for the commercial broadcasters. The Service Contract specifies that the 20% of that 15% must be invested in European and Italian films. Now, it so happens that the Service Contract must be adopted and Article 44 of Tusmar must be rewritten. It’s an opportunity not to be missed. Does this require a review of shares? A meeting between broadcasters and APT-ANICA has started at the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and the Ministry of Economic Development. We think this is an idea to be regarded. But we should think in terms of opportunities and not obligations. The know-how of independent producers could take the industrial view to the next level. This applies to Rai and to the others. You raised the alarm one year ago for the absence of orders by Mediaset, probably caused by the tensions with Vivendi. That’s true, but I read with interests Pier Silvio Berlusconi’s words who recently wanted to relaunch the scripted production. They know very well that opening to the world of independent production means opening to a diverse and successful world. However, Mediaset can do more for the scripted production. And Sky? I must pay tribute to them for having increased significantly the investments in TV series and documentaries. We must keep doing this. You raised the alarm on the application of the split payment to Rai and Mediaset in Il Sole 24 Ore of a few days ago. This measure would jeopardise the tax credit in your opinion. Is there any hope for a step back? We raised the question to the Government with the understanding that we risk to see the recovery of an Italian industrial sector reduced to nothing. I can’t anticipate the outcomes, but I’m sure that the Government will care about that. Was the Fazio case handled or not in your opinion? We are missing the big picture: we think it’s just about a single man, but we must focus on the necessary reform of Rai, starting from the governance since the current law makes it incomplete.
Source: Il Sole 24 Ore
