La7 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned by Cairo Communication and has another channel named La7 Cinema, which had acquired it from Telecom Italia Media, itself owned by Telecom Italia, in 2013.
La7 features a generalist programming schedule, primarily focused on news, current affairs, and entertainment. The channel is known for its in-depth political analysis, talk shows, and investigative journalism, often serving as an alternative to Italy's major public and commercial broadcasters.
The official voice-over announcer of La7 is the renowned dubbing artist Francesco Prando, and advertising sales are managed by Cairo Pubblicità.
The channel is available across Italy via digital terrestrial television, as well as on satellite platforms such as Sky Italia and Tivùsat. It is also accessible in Switzerland through cable providers.
History
Telemontecarlo
Telemontecarlo (TMC), founded in 1974, was the Italian language television channel from Monaco. At that time, the channel was one of the only two competitors of the Italian public television network RAI, broadcasting in colour (TV Koper-Capodistria launched in 1971). After the introduction of the Mediaset channels, TMC struggled until 2001. However, in 1999, its last owner, the film producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori, sold the network to SEAT Pagine Gialle.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Monegasque network was the main alternative to the RAI television channels. It was one of the international Italian-language television broadcasters available in the Italian peninsula.
Starting in the mid-1980s, Telemontecarlo increasingly became a niche channel following the rise of the Fininvest channels, particularly Canale 5. In 1990, it obtained a license to broadcast across the entire national territory under the Mammì Law.
Télé Monte Carlo administration
The birth of the Italian TMC (Telemontecarlo) was influenced by the Italian government's decision to adopt color television broadcasts, with the choice between the PAL and SÉCAM standards to be determined later. In 1971, during the debate over these standards, French industrialists reportedly proposed to President Georges Pompidou that TMC broadcast in Italian and in color by using the SÉCAM standard. The broadcasts would target Rome and the Italian coast from the ORTF transmitter in Bastia, Corsica, aiming to promote SÉCAM receivers in the Italian market. However, President Pompidou declined the proposal.
Technical tests in SÉCAM color, intended for Italy, took place in June 1971Le sécam tente une sortie-L'Express, 31 mai-6 juin 1971 with the establishment of UHF channel 35, broadcast in the PAL-G standard with a power of 50 kW. After several tests, in 1973 TMC broadcast some programs in Italian on this channel in an experimental form, which subsequently became Tele Monte Carlo in 1974.TÉLÉ-MONTE-CARLO ENGAGERA LA BATAILLE DE LA TV-COULEUR SUR LE "FRONT ITALIEN"-Le Monde-21/06/197122 anni fa nasceva TeleMonteCarlo
The official inauguration of the Italian service was held on 5 August 1974, one month after the ruling of the Italian Constitutional Court of 10 July 1974, number 225, which sanctioned the legitimacy of foreign relay systems. The first show transmitted by Telemontecarlo was Un peu d'amour, d'amitié et beaucoup de musique ("A Little Bit of Love, Friendship and a Lot of Music"), hosted by Jocelyn Hattab, who couldn't speak proper Italian at the time, and his wife Sophie. Initially, Genova and Turin were its primary targets. At an extraordinary general assembly convened on January 15, 1975, it announced its expansion to Milan (where the Italian channel would eventually be headquartered) by the end of March, still using the SECAM format.
In its first year, Télé Monte Carlo began broadcasting its programs in color, standing out among Italian viewers' television options, as RAI channels didn't have this technology until 1977. In addition to operating outside Italian borders (but with many repeaters in Italian territory, covering a large part of the Italian peninsula), the broadcaster also aired its programs in Italy on a national scale, thus becoming (along with the other two foreign networks of Italy, TV Koper-Capodistria and TSI) one of the first alternatives to RAI channels for the Italian public. As a Monegasque TV, Telé Monte Carlo could broadcast live on a national network, unlike private Italian networks, for which this was not possible until 1991, as it was an exclusive right of the public television service. Like RAI, Telé Monte Carlo was also a member of Eurovision.
The network had its first collaborators, the sports journalist Gianni Brera, director of the network's first sports program, Puntosport, and also Mike Bongiorno, although not in an official way. Indro Montanelli also worked at the network, creating in 1976, the network's news program Il Giornale Nuovo, produced by the Milanese newspaper of the same name, which he himself founded. The program lasted ten minutes, being divided into two parts: in the first (Notiziario), the announcer Antonio Devia read the most important news of the day, written by Il Giornale. In the second (Editoriale), Indro Montanelli (or one of the Milanese newspaper's main columnists, such as Enzo Bettiza, Mario Cervi or Cesare Zappulli) presented his opinion on the day's event. The commentary was recorded in Milan in the late morning and then transported to Monaco by car. From 29 August 1977, the newscast was divided into two nightly editions. From 17 January to 28 August 1977, the news program was preceded by the nightly journalistic study program presented by Luisella Berrino, entitled Montecarlo Sera. Furthermore, from 1980 to 1982, a short news program lasting about a quarter of an hour, Monte-Carlo News, was broadcast.
From 1976 to 1980, engineer Henri de France participated in the creation and operation of the Télé Monte Carlo repeater network in Italy. From 1978 to 1980, the network had TV presenter and author Paolo Limiti as programming director, responsible for creating several programs, including the cooking show Telemenù, hosted by Wilma De Angelis. The program was later renamed Sale, pepe e fantasia (Salt, Pepper and Fantasy). In 1979, Sandra Mondaini also joined the Monegasque channel with a variety program Stasera mi sento milionaria, in prime time. In 1980, TV presenter Ettore Andenna became programming director, remaining in the position for a year. That year, some programs (produced in the Antenna 3 Lombardia studios, in Milan) started to be broadcast on the Monegasque network, such as the morning show Telemattina and the quiz Scusi, le faccio un assegno? shown in the early evening. Also in 1980, Gianfranco Funari debuted his own program, the nightly talk show Torti in faccia, recorded at the station's Milan branch.
In 1981, rumors arose of the intention of the French-Monegasque ownership of the Italian-language branch of Télé Monte Carlo to be put up for sale. This was confirmed in 1983, with the adoption of a new logo at the branch, to distinguish it from its French-speaking sister, after years of using a unified brand. In the station's logo, the spelling used was French, so the word Tele was written Télé, a script that, however, was never used by the Italian press. Also in the early years, when the opening signal of the Eurovision network appeared, the name that appeared was Radio Télé Monte Carlo or Radio Télévision de Monte Carlo, also known in Italian as Radio Televisione de Monte Carlo. With this, the network came to be called Tele Monte-Carlo.
On 18 March 1982, RAI acquired half of the network's share package, out of fear that Canale 5 would control the satellite available to Tele Monte-Carlo. This act soon caused misunderstandings that resulted in the Il Giornale editorial team leaving the network and the cancellation of Monte-Carlo news. There were, therefore, only two short news programs (Notizie Flash), reduced to just one in 1985. During this period, the network repeated some old RAI programs, such as Lascia o raddoppia?, Studio Uno and Discoring.
From the mid-eighties onwards, Tele Monte-Carlo, which until then had a good audience in Italy, gradually began to disappear from the television scene, due to the growth of large national private networks, mainly the Fininvest Group.
Globo administration
On 4 August 1985, 90% of the network was purchased by Organizações Globo, to which Rede Globo belongs. The remaining 10% remained owned by RAI. The direction of the channel was entrusted to Herbert Fiuza, who delegated the management of internal productions to Carlo Briani. From then on, the network's name began to be spelled Telemontecarlo, and the logo became the same as that used by the Brazilian network from 1981 to 1983.
With the arrival of Rede Globo, there was also the inauguration of TMC's new TV production center in Rome, at Piazza della Balduina, 48. Opened in 1986, it became Telemontecarlo's main studio (while the Monte Carlo and Milan branches had their functions increasingly reduced) and remained in operation until 1998. As a result of the purchase, several Brazilian programs were shown in an Italian version, such as the telenovelas Gabriela, Dancin' Days, Água Viva, Louco Amor, Pão Pão, Beijo-Beijo, Final Feliz, Selva de Pedra, Sinhá Moça, Cambalacho, Guerra dos Sexos, Terras dos Sem-Fim and Roda de Fogo.
In addition to telenovelas, the network also aired miniseries and Brazilian TV series, such as Rabo de Saia, A Máfia no Brasil, Lampião e Maria Bonita, Anarquistas, Graças a Deus and Armação Ilimitada. At that time, some American TV shows for children were also shown, such as Get Smart, Batman, I misteri di Nancy Drew and Secrets and Mysteries. TMC also had in its programming the children's program Il paese della cuccagna, with studio jokes, games and anime, presented by Marina Perzy and Paolo Limiti and produced in Brazil. With regard to its own productions, Telemontecarlo had the talk show Specchio della vita, the TV Donna program, presented by Carla Urban, in addition to the consolidated cooking program Sale, pepe e fantasia.
The network's journalism also went through many changes at this stage, and in February 1986, under the direction of Ricardo Pereira, in partnership with Roberto Quintini, the TMC News television news program began to be produced. It was the first in Italy to be presented in a duo (alternating between a male journalist and a female journalist) and with camera movement, an innovation in Italian television journalism at the time. Some Brazilian journalists also worked on the network's team, such as José Altafini.
At that time, Telemontecarlo broadcast celebrations and events related to the Rio Carnival, and in the sports field, football matches for the Brazilian Championship and the Brazilian National Team were broadcast, in addition to Formula 1 races. The graphic part of the network had also been changed with the arrival of Rede Globo, adopting soundtracks and station bumpers from the Brazilian network. Most of the graphics were adapted in Rome by graphic designers such as Fiammetta Grasselli (who at the time was art director and responsible for the network's graphics sector), while most of the tracks were composed or rearranged by Silvio Amato.
In October 1987, Telemontecarlo's programming was removed from the air on its affiliates Canale 7 Roma and Canale 21 Roma, due to a legal challenge to the network's right to carry out live broadcasts in Italian territory made by the Fininvest group, of Silvio Berlusconi, who alleged that the Monegasque network had undue privileges. The determination was that the network should stop broadcasting live in Rome and the Lazio region.
The following were the affiliates TMC had before the passage of the Mammì law in 1990 that caused TMC to become a national network: