Posted: Tue., Feb. 25, 2003, 9:15pm PT

Gov't to crack down on broadcaster board

Vote to end controversial period in RAI's history

By Cecilia Zecchinelli

MILAN -- The Italian parliamentary body that supervises pubcaster RAI is expected to deliver a vote of no-confidence to the RAI board on Wednesday and force its two holdout members to resign, Commission prexy Claudio Petruccioli announced Tuesday.

The vote will finally put an end to one of the most controversial periods in RAI's history, which has seen dramatic declines in program quality and audience shares, continuous internal battles, political censorship and inaction in many crucial situations, including leaving key positions vacant.

The situation has deteriorated since November, when the five-member board appointed some months earlier by Silvio Berlusconi's ruling center-right coalition became paralyzed by internal rifts and three board members resigned.

The remaining two members, both close to the ruling coalition, have refused to resign.

Thanks to the protection of Berlusconi and his coalition allies, holdouts Antonio Baldassare (who is also RAI prexy) and Ettore Albertoni stayed in their posts and ran the network until some days ago.

That protection evaporated when, without informing the Parliament, they took the historic decision to move one of RAI's three TV channels from Rome to Milan, the headquarters of Umberto Bossi's federalist Northern League, a partner in Berlusconi's coalition.

But Berlusconi's other major ally, the National Alliance party of deputy prime minister Gianfranco Fini, was livid. It joined forces with Catholic centrists to oppose the decision and call for an end to RAI's two-member board. Fini also said he wanted RAI general director Agostino Sacca ousted from his job.

Berlusconi so far has preferred to wait and see, at least officially, ignoring opposition accusations that in Baldassare and Sacca's hands the state TV network was just following Berlusconi's agenda. The premier owns Italy's largest broadcaster, Mediaset, which has been increasing its share of viewership since last year.

In the inextricable mix of politics and business that has surrounded RAI since its birth in the 1950s -- but became more complicated when media tycoon Berlusconi became prime minister -- some right-wing politicians threatened to bring down the government over the RAI crisis.