Italy’s RAI back in the black
October 15, 2019
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Italian public broadcaster RAI ended the first half of 2019 with a slight profit of €3.3 million, compared to a loss of just under €5 million in the same period of 2018.
According to the financial statements, approved by the company’s Board of Directors, the positive result was due to a successful campaign against non-payment of the TV licence fee (now tied to the electricity bill), the sale of some patents (royalties) linked to the DVB-T2 standard and a financial injection by the State.
There was a modest decline in advertising revenues, as a result of the continuing weakness of the market, but this was mainly offset by the growth in revenues from royalties.
The overall increase in revenues, partially absorbed by the higher costs linked mainly to sports events, led to an improvement in the operating revenue of €17.2 million.
On June 30th 2019, the net financial position was negative for €239.1 million (+€89.2 million at June 30th 2018), an improvement of €47.4 million compared with December 31st 2018.