RAI to shutter North American arm

ROME -- RAI Corporation, the North American arm of Italian pubcaster RAI, is set to shutter in April due to budget cuts, which are also threatening several of its other global offshoots. RAI's board has voted unanimously to shut down its NY studios, where TV and radio reports are produced; 66 employees have been pink-slipped, and talks are reportedly underway with the Associated Press to use their TV services instead. Planned closure of RAI's Tribeca-based offices, after decades in activity, is just the first of a series of shutterings of the pubcaster's foreign units on the agenda, including RAI International, which distributes RAI content worldwide, and RAI Med, which airs to the Arab world. RAI, which has more than 13,000 staffers and debts of some 200 million ($270 million), is pushing through cuts as part of austerity measures dictated by technocrat prime minister Mario Monti. RAI Corporation is first on the list because, being incorporated in the U.S., management is seeking to apply American labor laws rather than Italian ones, which make it more difficult to fire. RAI Corporation employees who, besides news, produce cultural content for Italians living abroad, are disputing this and taking legal action against the RAI board, whose mandate expires in May. Meanwhile, at home, RAI is currently under fire for agreeing to pay Italo rockstar Adriano Celentano a whopping $461,000 for a single appearance on top-rated Sanremo Song Fest. Celentano has justified demanding such an exorbitant amount by saying he will give it all to charity. Contact Nick Vivarelli at nvivarelli@gmail.com