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1998 in Italian television

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List of years in Italian television
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This is a list of Italian television related events from 1998.

Events

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  • 30 April: Law 122 on television establishes the obligation for national channels to devote at least 50% of their broadcasting time to works of European production.

RAI

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  • 12 January: for the first time, RAI broadcasts a news program in Ladin language.
  • 29 January: renewal of the top management of RAI and the board of directors; Roberto Zaccaria becomes president, Pier Giorgio Celli general manager.[1]
  • 2 February: on RAI 1, the first edition of the news program for children is aired, it is hosted by Tiziana Ferrario.
  • 8 February: during the afternoon show Domenica in, in the presence of Treasury Minister Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the audience at home chooses the subjects of Italian euro coins through a vote via telephone.[2]
  • 28 February: Annalisa Minetti wins Sanremo festival (both for the Champions and for the Youth category) with Senza te o con te; the singer, in the talk following the festival, has a violent quarrel with the writer Aldo Busi, who accuses her of having exploited her blindness. The festival, hosted by Raimondo Vianello, is the second most watched show of the year with 15,072, million viewers.[3]
  • 18 June : The Italy-Cameroon match at the 1998 FIFA World Cup is the most-watched program of the year, with 25.543 million viewers.[3]
  • 9 September : death of Lucio Battisti. RAI remembers him with a special hosted by Vincenzo Mollica (Lucio, quante emozioni) ; two days later, Mediaset too pays a tribute to the singer-songwriter with a concert from Piazza del Campidoglio, ideated by Maurizio Costanzo and presented by Loretta Goggi (Il mio canto libero – Concerto per Lucio Battisti)
  • 13 October : During a special evening of Porta a porta for Pope John Paul II’s twenty years of pontificate, the pope himself phones on air to thank the host Bruno Vespa.[4]
  • 8 December : the first episode of Un medico in famiglia is aired on RAI Uno.
  • 16 December: agreement between RAI and Tele+ Digitale. RAI undertakes to provide the satellite platform with its six existing digital channels, plus five more by the year 2000.[1]

Mediaset

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  • 25 February: Canale 5, in competition with the Sanremo Festival, broadcasts Indagine sulla canzone truccata (Enquiry about the tricked song), an alleged investigative program conducted by Emilio Fede. At the opening, the journalist announces the arrest (never happened) of Iva Zanicchi. The staging continues for two hours, with fake images and comments from guests in the studio, until the singer herself intervenes live to reassure the public. The provocation is much criticized, even inside Mediaset.[5]
  • 8 March: in the Tele+ platform, Happy Channel, produced by Mediaset, makes its debut[1]
  • 20 March: Berlusconi family rejects Rupert Murdoch's offer to buy Mediaset for seven trillion lire.[1]

Satellite

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  • 9 February: on satellite, the Catholic channel SAT 2000 begins broadcasting; it’s owned by the Episcopal Conference and directed by Emanuele Milano, former director of RAI 1 and Telemontecarlo.[1]
  • 15 June: the pay-TV platform Stream TV, already active via cable since 1996, begins broadcasting on the Hotbird satellite, in competition with the already existing Tele+ Digitale. On December 26, Rupert Murdoch acquires 80% of Stream's shares.[1]
  • 1 September: on the Tele+ Digitale platform, birth of the first Italian all-news channel, INN (Italian News Network, realized in a cooperative by 18 local television stations) and of the first Italian thematic one, Marcopolo, (specialized in travels); both are produced by Sitcom company[1]

Debuts

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RAI

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Miniseries

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Serials

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News and educational

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  • Blu notte – Misteri italiani[8] (Night blue, Italian mysteries) – 12 seasons. True crime program, hosted by the mystery writer Carlo Lucarelli; the show, in the first seasons[9] focused on the common crimes, later is extended to the Italian history’s mysteries, as the Piazza Fontana bombing.[10]

Mediaset

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Variety

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  • Ciao Darwin (Hallo Darwin) – game show hosted by Paolo Bonolis and Luca Laurenti; again on air.  The theory of the natural selection is the pretext for burlesque tests of skill between diverse categories of persons and for exhibiting female flesh. The program, despite the charges to be “TV trash”, is now again one of the top Mediaset shows and the format has been largely imitated abroad.[11]

Television shows

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RAI

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Drama

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Fininvest

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Drama

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  • Ultimo (Last) – by Stefano Reali, with Raoul Bova and Ricky Memphis; 2 episodes. Reconstruction, very fictionalized, of the Totò Riina’s capture by a special force of carabineers, led by the “Commander Last” (Sergio Di Caprio).[14] The movie has 4 sequels.

Miniseries

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Serials

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Variety

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Networks and services

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Launches

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Network Type Launch date Notes Source
Happy Channel Satellite television 8 March
Disney Channel Cable and satellite 3 October
Video Italia Cable and satellite 10 December

Conversions and rebrandings

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Old network name New network name Type Conversion Date Notes Source

Closures

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Network Type Closure date Notes Source

Deaths

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Bruno, Somalvico (25 October 2012). "cronologia radiotelevisiva IV: 1993-2008: 1996-2001". cronologia radiotelevisiva IV. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
  2. ^ "Monete in Euro dell'Italia | Numismatica Europea". www.numismaticaeuropea.it. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
  3. ^ a b Hit (2010-09-08). "Auditel Rewind - 1998". TvBlog (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-07-31.
  4. ^ "Wojtyla, il gigante della fede - S1998 - La telefonata del Papa a "Porta a porta" - Video". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  5. ^ Cau, Salvatore (2015-02-14). "GRAFFITI SPECIALE SANREMO: IL FINTO ARRESTO DI IVA ZANICCHI, IL PRIMO AMICO DELLA DE FILIPPI, IL CACHET DELLA CUCCARINI, PARIETTI VS VENIER". Davide Maggio (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-07-31.
  6. ^ "Le ragazze di piazza di Spagna". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  7. ^ "Incantesimo". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  8. ^ The show, in the years, gets various titles: Mistero in blu, Blu notte, Lucarelli racconta.
  9. ^ "Mistero in blu". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  10. ^ "Blu notte". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  11. ^ "Ciao Darwin 8 - Terre desolate". Mediaset Play. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  12. ^ "Geremia". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  13. ^ "Più leggero non basta". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  14. ^ "Ultimo". Mediaset Play. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  15. ^ "Anni 50". Mediaset Play. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  16. ^ "Professione Fantasma". Mediaset Play. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  17. ^ "Italia Unz". Mediaset Play. Archived from the original on 2020-07-29. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  18. ^ "Ci ritorni in mente - Lucio Battisti". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-07-27.