Television in Italy wasintroduced in 1939, when the first experimental broadcasts began. However, this lasted for a very short time: when fascistItaly enteredWorld War II in 1940, all transmissions were interrupted, and were resumed in earnest only nine years after the end of the war, on January 3, 1954.

There are two main national television organisations responsible for most of the viewership: state-ownedRAI, accounting for 37% of the total viewing figures in May 2014,^[1] andMediaset, a commercial network which holds about 33%.^[1] The third largest player is the Italian branch ofWarner Bros. Discovery, which has a viewing share of 5.8%,^[1] whereas the fourth largest player isCairo Communication with a viewing share of 3.5%.

According to theBBC, the Italian television industry is widely considered both inside and outside the country to be overtlypoliticized.^[2] Unlike the BBC which is controlled by aboard of governors regulated byOfcom, the public broadcaster RAI is under direct control of the parliament. According to a December 2008 poll, only 24% of Italians trusted televisionnews programmes, compared unfavourably to the British rate of 38%, making Italy one of only three examined countries where online sources are considered more reliable than television ones for information.^[3]

Terrestrial television has historically been the dominant form of transmission in the country.^[4]

After some early tests in the 1930s,^[5] Italy experimented first regular electronic television transmissions from July 1939 to May 1940, through the state-ownedEIAR.^[6]

After the war, the state-ownedRAI was established and regular transmissions began on 3 January 1954. At the end of the 1970s, local private television networks began broadcasting, among which the ones fromSilvio Berlusconi'sFininvest emerged in the 1980s, creating a holding that controls three major channels (Rete 4,Canale 5 andItalia 1), opposed still today to the three ones from the RAI itself.

• Early television in Italy
• 
  Early testing in 1933 from the italian company SAFAR.
• 
  SAFAR standing at the Milan fair in 1933.
• 
  An earlyEIAR television studio in 1939.

Digital terrestrial television technology has expanded rapidly and now every major network in Italy (including RAI and Mediaset) transmits inDVB-T format, while analog broadcasts were continued until the end of the transition, originally set by law to December 31, 2006, but later pushed back to the end of 2012.^[7]

TheBerlusconi II Cabinet started promoting the digital format in December 2003 by granting a public financial contribution for the purchase of aMHP digital television decoder. Starting from January 2005 Mediaset and Telecom Italia Media started offering pay TV services through a prepaid smartcard, including football games, movies and TV shows. In February 2006, during the 2006 Winter Olympics held inTurin, RAI experimentally broadcast a number of sport events using a1080i signal andH264 coding. The HD signal has been transmitted over the Turin area, using DVB-T hierarchical modulation, and only specially crafted decoders have been able to receive this signal: they were placed in strategical points in the town.

During the UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2008 Summer Olympics, RAI started experimental high definition broadcasting onRai Test HD, available only in Turin, Milan, Rome, Sardinia and Aosta Valley, continuing with the2008 UCI Road World Championships and a few matches of the UEFA Champions League. In July 2008 theEuropean Commission's directorate for competition expressed concerns on whether the actions taken by the current Italian government would be able to alter the current status of duopoly in the broadcasting market held by RAI and Mediaset.^[8] Beginning October 31, 2008, in the firstregion of Italy planned to interrupt analog transmission,Sardinia, television networks broadcast multiplexes only in digital format. Licence fee payers from the region were entitled to a 50 euros discount off the price of a digital television decoder or a new, digital-compatible TV set.^[9]

In April 2021,Byoblu began a national broadcaster and the first Italian TV network that was financially supported by private citizen's donations.^[10][11]

Italy has had digital satellite broadcasts since the 1990s, with the launch ofStream TV andTELE+. In 2003 these merged intoSky Italia, today this pay TV platform is broadcasting fromHot Bird satellites. HDTV regular services started in June 2006 under the nameSky HD, with the broadcasting of the2006 FIFA World Cup in High Definition. As of today, almost all channels on the platform broadcasts inHD.Tivù Sat, a Free Satellite Service similar to the UK versionFreesat, was launched in June 2009, ensuring access to national television channels from digital terrestrial television networks. Shareholders includeMediaset,Telecom Italia Media and the State-owned company Rai.^[12]

• Sky (Sky Group), with about 5 million households (transmission: DTH; IPTV; DTT)
• Now TV (Sky Group) (transmission: IPTV)
• Infinity TV (Mediaset) (transmission: IPTV)
• TIMvision (Telecom Italia), with almost 2 million households (transmission: IPTV)
• Discovery+ (Warner Bros. Discovery) (transmission: IPTV)
• Chili; pay-per-view only (transmission: IPTV)
• Netflix (Netflix, Inc.)
• Disney+ (Disney)
• Amazon Prime Video (Amazon)
• DAZN (DAZN Group)

• Mediaset Premium (Mediaset) (transmission: DTT; IPTV)
• Europa 7 HD (Centro Europa 7 srl) (transmission: DTT)
• Dahlia TV (Airplus TV) (transmission: DTT)
• TV di Fastweb (Fastweb) (transmission: IPTV)
• Infostrada TV (Infostrada) (transmission: IPTV)
• Tiscali TV (Tiscali) (transmission: IPTV)
• Tele+ (Telepiù S.p.A.), with 1,8 million households in 2002 (transmission: DTH)
• Stream TV (Telecom Italia andNews Corp) (transmission: DTH; Cable)

In the 1960s the public television network RAI was amonopoly and the only network authorized to broadcast in Italy. Giuseppe Sacchi, a former RAI editor, launched on April 21, 1971, the first "free" television station, calledTelebiella and based inBiella. It started to broadcast on April 6, 1972, devoted primarily to news and information. Immediately the government led byGiulio Andreotti forced Sacchi to dismantle Telebiella. Later a new law was issued to regulate and allow cable broadcasting, although with tight limitations:^[13] 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 a few amateur projects. In the 1990s, firstTelecom Italia and thenFastweb createdoptical fiber networks and launched theirIPTV offers (however associated withSky Italia orMediaset Premium subscriptions). IPTV was the only service to offervideo on demand up until 2009.

All channels broadcast 24 hours, and are in16:9 format. On satellite, as a result of restrictions on broadcasting rights, most of RAI's channels are permanently encrypted, and broadcastfree-to-view through theTivúsat platform, or are temporarily encrypted when needed. However, Rai 1, 2, 3, Storia, Scuola and Gulp are left unencrypted.^[14]The channels from 10 to 19 are made available for Italian regional television.

Rai isItaly's nationalpublic broadcasting company, owned by theMinistry of Economy and Finance. Rai's broadcasts are also able to be received in neighboring countries, includingAlbania,Croatia,Malta,Monaco,Montenegro,San Marino,Slovenia,Vatican City, southernSwitzerland, and across Europe on satellite. It is one of the 23 founding broadcasting organizations of theEuropean Broadcasting Union.

Mediaset is the largestcommercial broadcaster in Italy. The group competes primarily against thepublic broadcaster and market leaderRAI. Due to their proximity to (or encirclement by) Italy,Albania,Croatia,Switzerland,Malta,San Marino, theVatican City andSlovenia can also receive Mediaset broadcasts. In addition to their domestic television channels, Mediaset also operates a series ofnews,entertainment andsport websites; owns 50.1% of theSpanish broadcasting firmMediaset España Comunicación; owns the film production companyMedusa Film; and heads aconsortium which owns thetelevision production houseBanijay.

• 7 Gold: launched in 1999 as "Italia 7 Gold", changed name in 2003; airs movies, sport debates and old TV series

•  France:France 24
•  San Marino:San Marino RTV
•  Vatican City:Vatican Media

• Canale 63
• Canale 65
• ibox.it
• Capri Store, home shopping
• Canale Italia: launched in 1976 as "Serenissima TV", changed name in 2004; airsentertainment shows, music and dance programmes (with the channelCanale Italia Musica),home shopping shows and classical movies. Also available on digital satellite and digital terrestrial
• Odeon: launched in 1987 from some local television stations that were previously affiliated to "Euro TV". The group also includes the channelsTLC Telecampione launched in 1982 andTeleReporter launched in 1977 as "Tele Radio Reporter", "Telereporter-Canale 7" between 2002 and 2004
• Telepace: launched in 1977 as a radio and, two years later, as a syndication, it is a religious channel and airs direct-to-videos holy masses, holy celebrations and Christian holidays, it is visible only in some regions and it broadcast from nearVerona
• Televisione Cristiana in Italia: launched in 1979, it is a religious channel too and it was named previously TBNE (Trinity Broadcasting Network Europe), this channel is visible only in some regions too

•  China:CGTN
•  France:Euronews,France 24,France 24 English,TV5Monde
•  Germany:Deutsche Welle
•  Iran:Press TV
•  Japan:NHK
•  Qatar:Al Jazeera,Al Jazeera English
•  Russia:RT
•  San Marino:San Marino RTV
•  Slovenia:TV Koper-Capodistria
•  Spain:24 Horas,TVE Internacional
•  United Kingdom:BBC News
•  United States:Bloomberg Television,CNN International

• Telemontecarlo (1974–01, broadcasting fromPrincipality of Monaco up to 1999)
• Rete A (1983–2005)
• Videomusic/TMC2 (1984–2000)
• Rete Mia (1988–2000)
• Italia 7 (1987–99)
• Pop (2017–19)
• Cine Sony (2017–19)
• Alpha (2017–19)
• Spike (2017–22)
• Alice (1999–20)
• Marcopolo (1997–20)
• Paramount Network (2016–22)
• Case Design Stili (2017–20)
• Pop Economy (2018–20)
• Mediaset Extra 2 (2019–20)
• VH1 (2016–24)

The Auditel measures television ratings in Italy. The two most watched channels are stillRai 1 andCanale 5 which together share 33% of the audience. Following these in terms of ratings areRai 3 andRai 2 with 14% of total share and finally a third group of stations made up ofItalia 1 andRete 4 which together reach 12% of TV ratings. Apart from the seventh ex analogue televisionLa7 with a market share of 4%. All the six RAI and Mediasetgeneralist channels had a slightly lower daily audience in 2013 compared with previous years, whileComcast's pay TV platform calledSky Italia (with its channels likeFox,Fox Crime,Sky Cinema andSky Sport), nationwide channelLa7 owned byCairo Communication and several new free-to-air digital stations (likeGiallo,Rai 4,Iris,La5,Real Time,K2,Rai Premium,Top Crime,Cielo,DMAX) are increasing in ratings day by day.

• List of television channels in Italy
• List of Italian-language television channels
• Television licensing in Italy
• Media of Italy
• List of newspapers in Italy
• List of magazines in Italy
• List of radio stations in Italy
• History of Italian journalism [it]
• Censorship in Italy
• Telecommunications in Italy
• Internet in Italy

• Grasso, Aldo (2008).Enciclopedia della televisione (in Italian) (3 ed.). Milano: Garzanti. p. 965.ISBN 978-88-11-50526-6.

• MAVISE – TV market in Italy^{[permanent dead link]}
• DVB-T in Italy

• Television in Italy
• Entertainment in Italy
• Italian-language television
• Television by country

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• CS1 Italian-language sources (it)
• Articles with short description
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• Use mdy dates from January 2013
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