ROME -- Italian state broadcaster RAI is going with tried and true talent in February's Sanremo festival, the 57th edition of the five-day event that usually dominates Italian television ratings each year.
RAI said Monday that 70-year-old Italian broadcast icon Pippo Baudo will be the event's master of ceremonies for the 12th time in two decades, with a host of singers in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Most are Sanremo veterans and very familiar Italian viewers.
"It's no surprise that RAI is going with very known quantities at a time when the broadcaster is trying to improve the quality of its image and at the same time slow the threat to its market share from rival Mediaset," said media commentator Alessandro Aquari, referring to the private broadcaster controlled by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Speculation in Italy about the lineup for Sanremo -- so well known in Italy that it is simply known as "Il Festival" -- runs high each year.
RAI said Monday that 70-year-old Italian broadcast icon Pippo Baudo will be the event's master of ceremonies for the 12th time in two decades, with a host of singers in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Most are Sanremo veterans and very familiar Italian viewers.
"It's no surprise that RAI is going with very known quantities at a time when the broadcaster is trying to improve the quality of its image and at the same time slow the threat to its market share from rival Mediaset," said media commentator Alessandro Aquari, referring to the private broadcaster controlled by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Speculation in Italy about the lineup for Sanremo -- so well known in Italy that it is simply known as "Il Festival" -- runs high each year.
ROME -- The 53rd edition of the Sanremo Song Festival, Italy's long-standing popular TV event, has kicked off on a sour note, scoring its lowest audience ratings in more than a decade for pubcaster RAI, which remains crippled by a management crisis. The Italian pop music marathon -- whose value to advertisers here is comparable to that of Super Bowl Sunday in the United States -- opened Tuesday with a 42.5% share, its lowest since 1987. The drop equates to some 3 million fewer viewers than last year, when Sanremo scored a 56% average share during its kickoff, according to national ratings compiler Auditel. The downward spiral continued with a roughly 41% average share on Wednesday, the second night of the five-night event. "We are changing the makeup of the fest, making it less mainstream and more artistic to entice more young viewers," said Sanremo host Pippo Baudo. Foreign pop acts attending this year include Shania Twain, Blue, Holly Valance and Brit-Indian DJ Panjabi MC.
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