This is a list of Italian television related events from 1972.
Events
January 26: The doctor Massimo Inardi, expert in classical music, loses the title of champion of the quiz Rischiatutto, detained for eight weeks, after having gained the (by then) astronomical sum of 48.300.000 liras. Inardi, renowned parapsychology scholar, has got great popularity and the nickname of “magician” for his presumed ESP power to read the quiz's answers in the mind of the presenter Mike Bongiorno; in June, he wins too the final of the show.[1]
April 6: the cable TV Telebiella, founded by the businessman and TV director Filippo Sacchi and by the anchorman Enzo Tortora, begins to broadcast. In spite of the poor means, it gets a wide success in the Biella district and its example is followed by other local cable TV in the whole Italy.[2] Another breaking in the RAI monopoly are the foreign channels (TSI1, Tv Koper-Capodistria, Antenne 2) relayed also in the internal regions of Italy by private aerials.[3]
August 26: RAI broadcasts in PAL color the opening ceremony of the 1972 Summer Olympics;[4] till the September 11, the games are shown in color, alternating PAL and SECAM (the German system appears by far the best). The expected passage of the RAI to the color, wanted by the Post and Communication minister Giovanni Gioia, is however further delayed by the opposition of the Republican Party, which sees it as an incentive to consumerism and arrives to threaten a government crisis about the matter.[5]
September 20: for the Festa dell’Unità, the PCI puts into operation a cable TV, broadcasting the events of the manifestation.[6]
December 15: the convention assigning the radio-TV services to RAI, expired after twenty years, is extended for another year.[6]
Gulp (later Supergulp) – show of “TV comics[7]”, care of Guido De Maria and Giancarlo Governi, with characters both classical (Corto Maltese) and specially created (Nick Carter). It's the most beloved Italian show for children in the Seventies.
Nascita di una dittatura (Birth of a dictatorship) – by Sergio Zavoli; inquiry in six episodes about the coming to power of the fascism, fifty years after the march on Rome. It's today again a precious historical document for the interviews to the survivor witnesses of the events, fascist or antifascist, some of which (as Amedeo Bordiga) deceased before the airing.
