He responds to Pier Silvio Berlusconi, who last week said he had beaten Rai in terms of ratings with Mediaset: “We have already proven it wrong. The public service is the real target to take into consideration“. But above all the CEO of Rai Roberto Sergio, interviewed by Salvatore Merlo during the Innovation Festival in Venice, rejects TeleMeloni’s accusations. “More than anything they should call us Teleoppositions. They sent me a report from the Pavia Observatory. Never before in my management has there been space for opposition, while the time for the Prime Minister has been reduced“.
The conversation with Sergio is an opportunity to return to the famous Scurati case, with the company accused of censorship for not having read the writer’s speech, as reported by presenter Serena Bortone shortly before April 25th. “Bortone should have been fired for what she did, but instead she was not punished. In no company would you be allowed to make a post against the company you work for. Now on June 11th you will have the opportunity to clarify and we will make a decision.” So no censorship? “There was a great reversal of reality on the matter”, explains Sergio. He says he sent a message “to Bortone to ask her to broadcast the speech Scurati didn’t come because he wasn’t paid“. Yet in the next schedule Bortone has had the episodes of her program halved. “But at the moment none of us knows the schedules, which will be presented next Friday”, replies the CEO of the state TV.
In Italian TV “I don’t think there is a duopoly but a large linear offer. When you start from 2 percent you can even double it but we are over 35 percent”, said Sergio regarding the end of market control by of Rai and Mediaset with the entry of Discovery and Nove. Speaking of departures, in addition to Fazio and Amadeus, Annunziata also left Rai last year and this year she is a candidate for the European elections with the Democratic Party. “It is proof that he already had that intention at the time. She was already a candidate then,” says Sergio. “It shows that all the controversies were instrumental. Those who left did so for personal, economic and political reasons“.
As for the director of Insights, Paolo Corsini, accused of militancy for FdI after his words at the last Atreju: is he liable to dismissal? “A formal warning was issued. Generally speaking, no one has been punished in Rai at this time“, argues the CEO. Regarding the protests of those who accuse the majority of subdivision by organizing strikes, he says: “The right to strike is sacrosanct, but the right not to strike is equally sacrosanct. So much so that the news went on air.”
Again according to Sergio, “certainly the law on equal conditions is outdated, but we must comply with it because there are personal responsibilities. I hope that it will be overcome, as well as the law on the governance of Rai“. At the beginning of his mandate, the hypothesis of a relay with the general director Giampaolo Rossi was evident. Has this hypothesis failed? “I was asked to complete a three-year mandate. I accepted. On the same day I appointed a general manager who I respect and who will be the next CEO. I will be the general manager. We are friends but above all people who respect each other”, reassured Sergio.
The last question is about Carlo Conti in Sanremo. “He has always been my candidate. I believe he will have a great Sanremo.” Fiorello? “At the moment he is on the sofa, he is resting. But he knows that I will start pressing in mid-July.”
