RAI TO LAUNCH TWO NEW CHANNELS

Italian pubcaster RAI has confirmed it is to launch its seventh thematic digital TV channel on March 1, which will be for TV series and mini-series.

RaiSat Fiction will show repeats of both Italian and foreign TV series from the pubcaster’s huge archive. Like the other six RaiSat channels, the new offering will be exclusively available to those Tele+ subscribers which have opted for the basic, superbasic or superpremium packages.

RAI is also participating in the project of a new pan-European satellite TV channel called Euromed. The new venture, which should start broadcasting during February, will be available free-to-air via the Eutelsat Hot Bird satellites, and will be dedicated to Mediterranean culture. Initially, the channel will be on the air for a few hours a day with Italian and Arab audio, but French and Spanish will be added in the coming months.