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Italy
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This month Wotsat looks at free TV from Italy and how to get it
Local issues get a voice on Italian TV
Toolkit What you need to view Italian free TV n Free-to-air DVB digital satellite receiver n 60cm dish with universal LNB aimed at Hot Bird (13°E). See Channel Check (p59) for dish sizes required on other satellites
Italy is one of the most prolific satellite TV nations in Europe, with more channels than even Germany, and the prime location for Italian TV is Eutelsat’s Hot Bird constellation. Italy was a founder member of the Eutelsat organisation years before it became a commercial business, and Italian channels can be found on many of Eutelsat’s other satellites. Their make-up is a reflection of the country’s political, regional and cultural make-up that’s unlike TV from anywhere else in Europe. To many in Europe, Italian TV is famed for game show Colpo Grosso – the original 'Italian Stripping Housewives’. Italian terrestrial TV is dominated by the three RAI state channels and three private channels of Mediaset, owned by Silvio Berlusconi, billionaire media mogul and prime minister. RAI's channels are unique in providing a mouthpiece for the right, centre and left of Italian politics. So as a whole, RAI is a politically balanced organisation, but RAI Uno, RAI Due and RAI Tre don’t have to be non-partisan. Italians are charged €107.50 a year per household, but non-payment is rife, and Italian TV is notoriously awful, full of bad gameshows
Food and cooking are a national pastime
and variety shows with minor celebrities and dancing showgirls. All six terrestrial channels can be found on satellite, but it also provides an outlet for Italy’s many strongly regional terrestrial channels. Italy has strong regional identities, and the channels provide everything from news, sport and local politics and culture to a shop window for local businesses. Regional satellite channels are sometimes an amalgamation of several even more local terrestrial channels, funded by local authority funding, awful infomercials and even phone-in fortune-telling. There are a few shopping channels, but the broadcast quality is often worse than YouTube. Then there are dedicated adult chatlines and a few other channels where the girls show it all at any time of day, and they often show hardcore adult films overnight. Italian TV also has fascinating special interest channels. Where else can you find a TV channel about public administration, architecture or the construction industry? Pay-TV is dominated by Sky Italia, which offers customers many of the same features as BSkyB, such as Sky+, HD and top football. Recently, as in the UK with Freesat, there is a drive to set up a free satellite platform with better features than the basic DVB-based service can offer.
Next on Euro Spotlight n Free TV from North-East Europe
Cinque dei migliori Five of Italian TV’s most popular shows
Domenica in
RAI Uno Excruciating six-hour Sunday-afternoon ‘variety’ show featuring the Italian staples of scantily clad showgirls, screaming C-list celebrities and musical numbers. Mediaset has a similar show, Buona Domenica.
Striscia la notizia
Canale 5 'The news slithers' is a news parody popular not only for being funny, but for exposing corrpution through local correspondents. Resident showgirls, the veline, are two of Italian TV's most popular icons.
L'eredita
RAI Uno Complex and fairly difficult general knowledge quiz show in which contestants eliminate each other to gain ‘The Inheritance’, but it nevertheless features Italy’s trademark dancing girls and a round where everyone joins a dance routine.
Annozero
RAI Due Factual show which mixes reporting on major events with studio discussions, which is rare both for the quality of its reporting and because no dancing girls appear on screen for up to an hour while it's on.
Colpo grosso
Italia 7 Bizarre late-80s Italian game show that inspired Germany's Tutti Frutti (a favourite of early satenthusiasts), in which contestants competed to take off their clothes and win the star prize, with frequent intermissions for a troupe of stripping dancers. Tune in for free local and national sports 2 What Satellite & Digital TV
Padre Pio – will he ever become a saint?
iStockPhoto/Charles Taylor
Italy
Euro spotlight All channels on Hot Bird, 13°E, unless indicated. See Channel Check (p59) for frequencies
Footprint
Free Italian TV CHANNEL
Genre
CHANNEL
Genre
1 Minute TV 3 Channel 50 Canale AB Channel Administra.it All Music✪✶ All Sex Architecture, Construction, Materials Channel BergamoSat Betting Channel Bio TV Blu■ Blu 3 Blu Line TV Blu TV Calabria Channel● Camera di Deputati Canale 5 Canale Italia Carpe Diem Cartomanzia Lotto Casa Italia Challenger TV Coming Soon TV Conad✱ Dance TV Denaro TV Divafutura TV E’TV Satellite Eco TV Elite Shopping TV Erde & Mensch Europa 7✭ Facile TV Free Channel Fuego TV Galaxy GBR Genius TV Health & Beauty TV High Life TV Holiday Sat✦ House Channel In TV Italia 1 TV Italia 2 Sat Italia 8 Prestige Italia Channel Italiamia Sat Italian Music Italiani nel mondo Italiasat Italy Sat La 7✦ La 8 La 9 Sat La Nuova TV Lady Channel❖ Laurenti Channel✦
User-generated TV General entertainment (Local) Pisa Shopping Public administration Pop videos Adult chatlines
Lazio Channel✦ Libera Mare TV Mediashopping TV✪ Mediatel Mediolanum Mediterraneo Sat❍ Metropolis TV MilanoSat Mondo Arte Motori TV [AB1] MTV Italia✦ Napoli Mia Napoli Nova Napolia TLA New TV Noello Sat Number One Channel Oasi TV✤ Odeon Sat Passione Pesca Pianeta TV Piemonte Sat Play TV Pleasure TV PQ Channel✦ Puglia Channel✦ Punto Sat 1-3 Puntoshop Radio Italia TV Rai 1 Rai Edu 1 & 2 Rai Gulp Rai Med Rai Nettuno Sat 1 & 2 Rai News 24 Rai Sport Piu Rai Tre Rai Uno ✦ RED Repubblica Radio TV Rete 4 Rete Capri Rete Oro Sat♥ ReteSette■ Rolsat Roma Sat■ Roma Uno RTB International❖ RTL 102.5 Radiovisione Salento Channel Sardegna 1 Sat❖ Sardegna Channel Sat Senato TV Show Room Sicilia Channel Sport Channel Spy TV Sri TV Star Sat
(Local) Lazio Adult chatlines Maritime entertainment Infomercials Infomercials General entertainment (Local) Sicily (Local) Napoli (Local) Milan Arts Motoring Pop videos (Local) Napoli (Local) Napoli (Local) Napoli Infomercials Infomercials Radio on TV Culture Culture Fishing Tarot (Local) Piemonte General entertainment Adult chatlines Luxury lifestyle (Local) Puglia Gaming Shopping Pop videos General entertainment Education Children’s entertainment Magreb news Higher education Rolling News Sports General entertainment General entertainment Culture and politics News and culture General entertainment (Local) Capri (Local) Cote del’Oro (Local) Piemonte (Local) ? (Local) Roma (Local) Roma Professional training Pop videos (Local) Salento (Local) Sardegna (Local) Sardegna Italian senate Infomercials (Local) Sicilia Sports Adult chatlines Sri Lankan TV Fortune telling
Industrial info (Local) Bergamo Gambling Infomercials Adult chatlines Adult chatlines Adult chatlines (Local) Basilicata (Local) Calabria Italian parliament General entertainment General entertainment Infomercials Lottery Infomercials User-generated TV Movie news Infomercials Music videos Money & business Fortune-telling (Local) Emilia Romagna Alternative lifestyles Infomercials Alternative lifestyles General entertainment Lifestyle Infomercials Adult chatlines Infomercials Infomercials Infomercials Health info Adult chatlines Travel shopping Infomercials Infomercials General entertainment General entertainment Infomercials Infomercials Infomercials Pop videos Infomercials Infomercials Infomercials General entertainment (Local) Veneto & Emilia Romagna Infomercials (Local) Basilicata Women’s drama Infomercials – watches
30°E Spanish satellite operator Hispasat is dedicated to serving Latin-American communities on both sides of the Atlantic, and providing transatlantic communications. The current Hispasat fleet of replaced the two smaller, less powerful three satellites placed in orbit during the 1990s. This location was once a hot spot for free signals, but pay-TV now dominates. However, what it does have can be seen with relatively small antennas in the UK, thanks to the high power of the new satellites, even if it's little more than more than a dozen low-bitrate infomercial channels drammed onto each transponder. Hispasat also operates the Amazonas satellites at 61ºE serving the Americas, Xtar-Eur at 29ºE for Asia, and the Spanish government's Spainsat at 30ºW, which operates in the X and Ka bands. Capacity at 30ºW will expand hugely in 2010 when Hispasat 1E arrives with 53 ku-band transponders. n Operator: Hispasat, www.hispasat.com
Satellites n Hispasat 1C
Launched: Atlas IIAS, Cape Canaveral, February 3, 2000 Launch mass: 3,113kg Manufacturer: Alcatel Spacebus 3000B2 Transponders: 24 Ku-band EIRP: 54dBW Beams: Iberia/Europe, America n Hispasat 1D
Launched: Atlas IIAS, Cape Canaveral, September 19, 2002 Launch mass: 3,288kg Manufacturer: Alcatel Spacebus 3000B2 Transponders: 28 Ku-band EIRP: 53.5dBW Beams: Iberia/Europe, America
✶ = Also broadcasts in DVB-S2 ✦ = Also broadcasts from Astra 1 ✦ = Also broadcasts from Atlantic Bird 1 ✪ = Also broadcasts from Atlantic Bird 3 ♥ = Also broadcasts from Eurobird 3 ■ = Also broadcasts from Eurobird 9 ✭ = Also broadcasts from Eutelsat W2 ● = Also broadcasts from Hellas Sat 2 ✤ = Also broadcasts from Intelsat 801 ✱ = Also broadcasts from Intelsat 901 ❖ = Also broadcasts from NSS7 ❍ =Also broadcasts from Sesat
Dish sizes in cm. More footprints at www.hispasat.com Betting and shopping fill a lot of Italian TV What Satellite & Digital TV 3