We ignore how many fans of the Italian national football team there are currently. Instead, from data – not very updated – for 2019 we know that in 2019 there were 22 million Rai subscriptions which, at a minimum, leads us to believe that those who then use the state TV service are at least 44 million Italians. To win the free-to-air rights to the next World Cup we read that Rai paid an amount between 110 and 120 million for 35 matches even if there would be a clause that reduces them to 70 million in the event of the national team’s failure to qualify. Now, the problem – which we are not in a position to solve because, to paraphrase Venditti, mathematics has never been our job – is to establish the proportion between fans/viewers and this with a view to Rai investments. A calculation that must be made by inserting a first variable dictated by the assumption that not everyone will follow the matches without Italy and a second unknown which foresees a drastic reduction in ratings for matches that will be played at night. In short, how many viewers will there be at four in the morning on June 26th to follow the prestigious Paraguay-Australia match? And, all things considered, how much will Rai have spent on each of these heroic, tireless lovers of non-Italian football?
It will be said that it was right for Rai to purchase the rights to the World Cup sight unseen, but the same could also be said for the ATP tennis Finals which, moreover, take place in Turin, and which instead were purchased by Mediaset. It outrages us to think that Rai found the money and invested capital based on the unknown of qualifying for the World Cup to cheer up a minority, while, in just under a month, its 22 million subscribers (and 44 million presumed viewers) will be foisted with endless reruns, warehouse leftovers, unwatchable broadcasts, unthinkable attendance and a whole series of TV series purchased wholesale and disowned by the same actors who played them. We are irritated to think that Rai does not consider that TV is above all a source of entertainment for those who, especially in a season of price increases, will not have the opportunity to enjoy leisure and holidays or for the many elderly people forced to stay at home, and prefers a blind investment for a narrow range of users who are now also extremely dissatisfied. Rai prides itself on pluralism in all its forms, but, paradoxically, it seems to us that it only takes into consideration the capital to be invested rather than the human capital of reference.
