Berlusconi's Television, Before and After. The 1980s, Innovation and Conservation

During the Eighties, commercial television has been a driver of deep innovation into the Italian media system, mainly thanks to the complex figure of media entrepreneur (and then tycoon) Silvio Berlusconi. However, a closer analysis show how, after a short “rupture phase” necessary to enter a new market and conquer the TV audience, with originality and a strong conflict with PSB, often the new Fininvest commercial channels started to more easily adapt to their competition’s common routines, thus becoming a conservative force using its new power to reinforce the system’s stability. The essay shows, following the case histories of commercial TV news, scheduling and financing, how this dynamics of innovation and conservation have been carefully implemented and defended since the beginning of Silvio Berlusconi’s media activity.