Cable Television
Italy currently has the lowest percentage (less than 1%) of transmissions from cable television of almost all of the world's developed countries.
In the 1960s the public television network RAI was a monopolist and the only 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, devoting 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 the 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 few amatorial project. In the 1990s, first Telecom Italia and then FASTWEB created Optical fiber networks and launched their IPTV offers (however associated by SKY Italia or Mediaset Premium subscriptions). IPTV was the only service to offer Video On Demand up until 2009.
Read more about this topic: Television In Italy
Famous quotes containing the words cable and/or television:
“To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars.”
—Douglass Cross (b. 1920)
“His [O.J. Simpson’s] supporters lined the freeway to cheer him on Friday and commentators talked about his tragedy. Did those people see the photographs of the crime scene and the great blackening pools of blood seeping into the sidewalk? Did battered women watch all this on television and realize more vividly than ever before that their lives were cheap and their pain inconsequential?”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)