|
THE ITALIAN JOB
INTRO
Arrivederci Roma, hello Surbiton. Britain might be a long
way from Italy but homesick ex-pats can stay in touch with the old country with
satellite TV...
COPY
Estimates vary but there could be as many
as three quarters of a million people in Britain's Italian community, and that
includes at least two hundred thousand ex-patriots, according to the Italian
Embassy in London. Add to that Italian-speaking Brits and you've got a sizeable
audience, and appetite for Italian television in this country.
That audience is reasonably well-served,
and has been since the early1980's, by satellite broadcasts of Italian TV
channels. In fact Italy's state-financed broadcaster RAI (Radiotelevisione
Italiana), were one of the pioneers of satellite TV; the general entertainment
channel RAI Uno has been carried on various Eutelsat satellites since June
1984, long before direct-to-home systems like Astra were conceived. In those
early days low-power communications satellites were used to distribute TV to
local cable networks and rural communities. TV channels such as Rai Uno were
never meant for consumption outside the home country, though by the
mid-eighties the cost of satellite receiving equipment had fallen dramatically
and hundreds of private dishes were being installed in the UK each month, a
sizeable proportion of them in the homes of Italian families.
In
recent years RAI Uno has been joined by a second general entertainment
channel, RAI Due; a couple of years ago there were plans for RAI Tre and an MTV-style
music channel but they have since been shelved. Several other Italian channels
are now available from various satellites with footprints reaching the UK,
though it has to be said that some of them are not easily receivable on small
fixed dishes, more about that in a moment. Italian broadcasters have so far
resisted the temptation to join the Astra club. RAI have had discussions with
Astra's operators SES on several occasions about the possibility of leasing
transponders, rumour has it there is
still hope.
THE EQUIPMENT
So what equipment do you need to receive
Italian TV in the UK? Jimmy Rustem at Insat, one of the UK's leading installers
of multi-satellite systems unhesitatingly recommends the Nokia SAT 1700. 'It's
got the correct subcarriers, it's reliable, it adapts readily to motorisation,
and it's got class'. When it comes to the choice of a dish Jimmy is equally
adamant. 'You can get away with an 80cm dish in the South East, but a 1-metre
dish is better, a 1.2 is better still, if you've got the room'. The most
popular Italian channels, RAI Uno and Due, are on Eutelsat F2 at 10 degrees
East, and it is possible to pick them up with a fixed dish, with a second LNB
and extension arm for Astra signals. A similar arrangement could be used for
the two other channels on Eutelsat F1 (13 degrees) and Eutelsat F2 (16
degrees), though Italian TV aficionados we've spoken to suggest they're not
really worth the effort. Insat reckon a
straightforward system, based around an 80cm dish, including installation should
average out at £300 or so, a twin LNB set-up would add about £100 to the price.
A motorised dish is the most flexible
option, and the only practical way of picking up the three Italian-language
channels on Intelsat 602, at 63 degrees East. Unfortunately this satellite is
very low in the Eastern sky and few sites can get an unobstructed view.
Motorised dishes are a good deal more complicated, and there's usually a lot of
extra work involved in the installation, even so, a capable system, based around
the Nokia Sat 1700 and matching positioner, need cost no more than £600,
including installation.
THE DURSO FAMILY
Ivano and Caroline Durso have lived in
Britain most of their adult lives, latterly in Orpington, on the fringes of
South London, a very long way from their native Southern Italy. They have three
children, two boys and a girl aged 6, 12 and 13. They have a Nokia SAT 1700
system with a 1-metre fixed dish on the side of their house. The Durso's have
several televisions, and they can all be fed from the main living room set
using a distribution system installed by Ivano.
Ivano runs a food import business, which
has meant the Dursos remain in regular and close contact with their home
country, but satellite television has been a relatively new interest in their
lives. 'It was recommended to be by a friend,' says Ivano, 'he swore by it, and
I had to try it'. Did you buy it to stay in touch with home? 'No, that's not
the only reason', says Caroline, 'it is useful for the business, Ivano can stay
up to date with new foods as they come on to the market, through the adverts,
it's also very useful for our customers to know what is happening over there'.
What programmes do you watch regularly? 'We get the two RAI channels, I watch
the early morning news, Telegironale,
at around 6am, before I go to work, they carry the lire exchange rates,
which are very important for my work', says Ivano, ' and I watch the evening
news, at 7pm, when I get home'. What do you think of Italian news? 'It's very
good, it has much better international coverage, compared with the BBC, though
there's a lot of politics right now, but that might be because of the recent
elections'
Do you have any favourite shows? 'No, not
yet, we haven't had the system very long', explains Caroline, 'so we're still
finding our way through the channels, but I don't watch much TV anyway'. 'The
first day we had it' Caroline went on, ' we watched some old movies, mostly
American, dubbed into Italian, and Murder She Wrote, also in Italian, it was
very strange seeing it like that'. Have you come across any more unusual
programmes? 'Yes, there's lots of game shows, some of them familiar, like La
Ruota Dell Fortuna, that's Wheel of Fortune'. What about the children, do they
watch Italian TV? 'No, they prefer the cartoon channels and kids programmes'.
How do you find out what's on? 'That's
difficult' says Ivano, 'there's nothing in the British newspapers or magazines,
so it's pot-luck what we find on sometimes'. 'The RAI channels have teletext,
that helps', adds Caroline. There are several other Italian channels, would you
be prepared to motorise your dish to receive them? 'No, it's not possible'
explains Ivano' we cannot easily receive them from our house, and it probably
wouldn't be worth the extra expense'. So are you happy with Italian TV on
satellite? 'Yes, so far' ,says Ivano 'but ask us again in a few months'.
THE RAI STUFF
The two RAI channels do not look
substantially different from BBC or ITV schedules. The day is broadly split
into four sections with the first part taken up with breakfast shows, magazine
programmes, a sprinkling of soaps and cartoons. By late afternoon the emphasis
has shifted to children's programmes, Disney cartoons, early evening news and
current affairs. The rest of the evening is taken up with a mixture of American
soaps, sport and movies, depending on the day of the week, though RAI Uno is
definitely more sports oriented, whilst you're more likely to find a movie on
Due after 9pm. These include a mixture of dubbed Hollywood films -- old and new
-- and a good number of home-grown productions. Naturally football figures prominently in the sports
diet and you can expect to find at least one major match on RAI Uno every day
of the week. Both channels close down between 3 and 4am, and yes, their
late-night programmes look just as boring as ours!.
BOX COPY 1.
ITALIAN TV
AND RADIO CHANNELS ON SATELLITE
SATELLITE/POSITION TR CHAN FQ/POS CONTENT
Eutelsat II F1/13° East 37 Euronews 11.575/V 24hr news, Italian sound
Eutelsat II F2/10° East 120 Rai Uno 10.972/V sport/gen. entertainment
26L Rai 11.062/V unscheduled feeds and
links
26U Rai Due 11.095/V Movies/gen.entertainment
Eutelsat II F3/16° East 37 Telepace 11.575/V Vatican channel
Intelsat 602/63° East 61L
Rete 10.974/H unscheduled feeds and
links
61U
Rete 4 11.011/H gen. entertainment
62L
Cinquestelle 11.052/H gen. entertainment
Radio 63L Radio TL 11.096/H rock and pop
NB Photog
contact: Ivano and Caroline Durso, 86 Oakdene, Orpington, Kent
Tel. (0689)
878278
---end---
© R.Maybury
1993 1412
|