Pi-Consulting

Ask Silvio Berlusconi where advertising clutter comes from. If his memory gets hazy, remind him about his motorcycle days.

Long before his expansion into the politics racket, Signor Berlusconi established himself as the capo di tutti capi of Italian TV. Back in the 1980’s, advertisers were complaining that the dead hand of RAI, Italy’s then monopoly state network broadcaster, was restricting their access to the airwaves. The young Berlusconi spotted an opportunity, and invested much of his newly-minted property fortune in snapping up local TV stations across the country and forging them into networks.

When the government slapped an interdict on national networking by anyone that wasn’t their own RAI, Berlusconi biked hundreds of tapes of his sultry soap operas and sexy variety shows to his provincial TV stations. By pure coincidence, they all decided to transmit the same shows at the same time, turning hundreds of individual TV stations into de facto national networks again. The stratagem toppled RAI’s top shows from their dominant position in the ratings. The “bicycle thief” had broken the government monopoly. The law duly bowed to the inevitable (Italian laws often do), the Berlusconi networks were legalized, and Don Silvio unleashed such a torrent of TV ads on a goggle-eyed public that it surprised even the Italians. Advertisers were delighted. (more…)