Rai 2

Rai 2
Launched	4 November 1961
Owned by	Rai
Picture format	16:9 576i and 1080i (Selected events)
Audience share	6.85% (May 2014, [1])
Country	Italy
Formerly called	Secondo Programma (1961–1975) Rete 2 (1975–1982) Rai Due (1982–2010)
Website	www.raidue.rai.it
Availability
Terrestrial
Analogue	Not available
Digital	DVB-T, LCN 2
Satellite
Analogue	Not available
Digital	DVB-S (scrambled in Mediaguard during some events) on Hotbird, Astra and Atlantic Bird
SKY Italia	Channels 102 and 5002
NOVA Greece	Channel 855
Cable
MC Cable	Channel 202
Com Hem	Channel 213
Cablecom	Channel 094 Channel 203 (digital CH-D)
Numericable	Channel 77
DNA Oy	Channel 376
Streaming media
Rai.tv	Live Streaming
Yalp.alice.it	Live Streaming

Logo used from 2000–2010

Rai 2 is one of the three main television channels broadcast by Italian public television company RAI alongside Rai 1 and Rai 3. Rai 2 first started broadcasting on 4 November 1961. In the eighties it was known for its political affiliation to the Italian Socialist Party; in recent years it has shifted its focus toward talk shows, reality television and infotainment.

The channel is scheduled to start HDTV broadcasting by the end of September 2013.

Programs

A few programmes include:

• TG2 (Newscast)
• Desperate Housewives
• NCIS
• NCIS: Los Angeles
• Las Vegas
• JAG
• Law & Order
• ER
• Eurovision Song Contest (finals until 2015)
• Popular
• Life on Mars
• Castle
• Numb3rs
• Felicity
• Starsky and Hutch
• Primeval
• Past Life
• Once Upon a Time

Cartoons

• Digimon
• The PowerPuff Girls
• Ashita no Nadja
• Pretty Cure
• Teletubbies

Not longer aired programs

Until the 1975–1976 season regular broadcasting was monochrome, with very few exceptions. Since the 1976 summer season, then called Rete 2 began airing some new shows in colour, then beginning semi-regular colour broadcasting during the autumn season (a few hours a week). Rai 1 followed its "sister network" a few months later. Eventually, regular broadcasting in colour began on 1 February 1977.

• Rischiatutto, one-hour-long Italian version of Jeopardy!, hosted by Mike Bongiorno, aired on Thursday night, from 5 February 1970, at 9:15 PM (in 1972 season at 9:30 PM). About 20 million viewers watched every episode of the show,^[2] the first one aired on Rai 2 to enter in the list of the Ten Most Watched Programs on Italian TV during the year. The final two seasons (1973 and 1974) were aired on Rai 1.
• Ondalibera (known popularly as Televacca, Cow TV), was a one-hour-long comedy and satirical show hosted by a very young Roberto Benigni in his television debut. In the show, the Tuscan peasant Mario Cioni (Benigni) hosts a program aired in the fictional local channel Televacca, which has its headquarters in a stable full of hay and animals. Using a sometimes vulgar and desecrating speech, with a heavy Tuscan accent, Benigni improvised monologues and satirized the TV medium and the society. Co-hosts were the boor Monna (Carlo Monni) and his "daughter" Donatella, a Daisy Mae Yokum stylish young woman.^[3] Considered one of the most controversial programs in Italian TV history, censored and interrupted after only four episodes despite being relatively successful, the program debuted on 19 December 1976, airing on Sunday nights at 8:45 PM.^[4]

References

1. "Sintesi Mensile 1A" (PDF). Auditel. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
2. http://www.eurojump.com/content/ventimilioni-il-gioved%C3%AC-di-mike (Italian)
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnBmyzkAPHQ
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knc8aUslmDw The "opening theme" of the show, titled "La Marcia degli Incazzati" (Pissed Off Guys' March)

External links

• Official Website (Italian)