The two main events in Italian television history that occurred in the 1970s were the advent of color and the introduction of private channels. The story of color TV is truly a political-industrial epic that began in the mid-sixties and ended only towards the end of the 70s after many delays and false starts.

In these years RAI’s television monopoly showed its first cracks with viewers tuning into shows from neighboring countries like Monaco and Switzerland that were broadcast in Italian. For the first time since television was born the viewing public began to see they had a choice.