A few days after the farewell to Rai was made official, confirmation arrives of
Amadeus ' arrival in the
Warner Bros. Discovery
team
.
The presenter has signed a four-year contract which will take him to
Nove
from autumn , with three programs during the season, one access prime time and two prime time, and with an active collaboration role for the development of new entertainment formats for all the group's platforms.
Waiting for him, the king of Affari Tuoi and artistic director of the last five Sanremo Festivals, will find two other former faces of Viale Mazzini,
Maurizio Crozza
and
Fabio Fazio
, as generalist of a group that is increasingly aiming for the role of third television pole and which, after having achieved the best year ever in 2023 with 8.6% share in the 24 hours and 7.7% in prime time, in the first months of 2024 it is traveling on an average of 10% in the the whole day and 8.6% in prime time.
Amadeus' debut on Nove will certainly be in access prime time, its chosen slot: the format is to be defined, but it cannot be ruled out that it could be Soliti Ignoti, the Endemol Shine Italy game which the host himself brought to great success on Rai1 since 2017 and whose rights with Viale Mazzini would expire.
As for the prime time programmes, one in autumn and the other in spring, they should be a musical format, not a talent show but an event show, in which the Sanremo experience can be put to good use; the other is classic entertainment, from a generalist network.
The details will be released later, but in the meantime it is certain that the contract with WBD will give wide autonomy to Amadeus, with the possibility of designing and developing new ideas for the other channels too - 10 free-to-air and 5 paid, a meadow of opportunity - of a group that can guarantee management stability, greater freedom from political conditioning and streamlined decision-making processes. It is no coincidence - according to figures circulated in recent days and never denied - the investment for the entire operation would be around 100 million, of which 10 million over four years destined for the tenant. Amadeus is a "TV champion, an extraordinary artist and one of the faces most loved by the Italian public", Alessandro Araimo, Managing Director Warner Bros. Discovery Southern Europe, celebrates the coup.
"We are eager to work together, to combine the great energy that distinguishes him with the creativity of the publisher who, more than any other, has renewed Italian TV in recent years." And he underlines that the strategy is to carve out an even more leading role in the Italian TV panorama "with channel Nove - increasingly rich in artists and unique and distinctive formats - with the entire portfolio of free and pay TV channels, with sport , digital platforms and film production and distribution. a system of means that makes us, in the Italian market, a unique entity capable of fully valorising the country's major creative talents", claims Araimo. No other telemarket hits are expected in the immediate future, but it cannot be ruled out that the group will continue to look around in terms of stars and big names in the in-depth analysis. At Nove they are ready to welcome Amadeus with open arms: "We love you", we read on the X profile of the channel with a lot of heart. "We're waiting for you! A hug!", tweets Fabio Fazio, posting a photo of them together. "It's time for new professional and personal challenges, for new dreams," Amadeus said in his farewell video to Rai. And while he continues to rack up ratings on Rai1 with Affari Tuoi - the most watched program of the day yesterday too, with 26.3% and 5.4 million viewers - he is preparing for his last live appearance on the screens of Viale Mazzini, which in all likelihood it will be May 10th, at my friend Fiorello's, on the last episode of Viva Rai2!...