Riccardo Galli

Abstract The article focuses on the recent changes in Italy’s tv market: the passage to digital terrestrial technology has led to the rise of “multichannel”, that is to say plenty of thematic channels, that can compete, on their whole, with the traditional generalist TV. This change has made necessary for the broadcasters to put in act two main competitive strategies: “product branding”, i.e. each channel is constructed as a brand which has its own characterization and refers to a specific target; and “corporate branding”, i.e. each channel belongs to a broadcasting system, whose features it reflects. These strategies have important infl uences on the communication of TV companies, which are analyzed also with reference to recent Italian case histories: Rai 4, Italia 2, Real Time.