Ritorno al Futuro. Il presente ed il passato della Mobile Tv

Authors

  • Benedetta Prario University of Lugano
  • Gabriele Balbi University of Lugano

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS12200760

Keywords:

mobile TV, Telephone Herald, Italy, point-to-point and multicast communication, broadcasting, telecommunications, media strategies

Abstract

L’articolo prende in esame le evoluzioni storiche di due tecnologie nel contesto mediatico italiano: la prima, l’“Araldo telefonico”, nel anni ‘10 del Novecento; la seconda, la Televisione Mobile, nei primissimi anni del XXI secolo. Il paper è suddiviso in 3 sezioni. La prima contiene una breve descrizione del funzionamento, dei significati e della storia dell’“Araldo Telefonico”, con particolare riferimento ad un processo che ebbe per protagonista l’ideatore dell’Araldo italiano, l’ingegner Luigi Ranieri. La seconda illustra l’avvento della Mobile Tv in Italia, concentrandosi essenzialmente sulle aziende che ne forniscono il servizio e sui contenuti da esse erogati. Nella terza parte, infine, vi è la tesi centrale del lavoro. Pur considerando infatti le notevoli differenze strutturali, economiche e socio-tecniche tra i due media, si sostiene come per entrambi venga sostanzialmente a cadere una distinzione comunemente accettata nel corso del Novecento: quella tra comunicazione punto-a-punto e broadcasting. Back to the Future. The Past and Present of Mobile TV The paper illustrates historical developments of two technologies in the Italian context, namely the Araldo Telefonico (Telephone Herald) in the first ten years of XX century, and the Mobile TV in XXI century. The article is structured in three sections: in the first one it describes the meaning of the Araldo Telefonico, its uses and benefits and its history referring in particular to the process involving Luigi Ranieri, the inventor of the Italian system. In the second one, it examines the Mobile TV and the supply offered by the main Italian operators. Finally, in the third part, it illustrates the central thesis of the article. The paper argues that these two technologies have some differences, at economic and social-technological level, but a key factor in common: the impossibility to distinguish between point-to-point communication and broadcasting. Regresso ao futuro: o Passado e o Presente da Televisão Móvel O presente artigo ilustra os desenvolvimentos históricos de duas tecnologias no contexto Italiano, nomeadamente o Araldo Telefonico durante a primeira década do séc.XX, e a Televisão Móvel no séc.XXI. O artigo estrutura-se em três partes: na primeira, descreve-se o significado do Araldo Telefonico, o seus usos, benefícios e história no que se refere em particular o processo de desenvolvimento do sistema italiano inventado por Luigi Ranieri. Na segunda parte, examina-se a Televisão Móvel e a oferta disponibilizada pelos principais operadores italianos. Finalmente, na terceira parte, expõe-se a tese central deste artigo, argumentando que, por um lado, existem algumas diferenças, ao nível económico e sóciotecnológico, entre estas duas tecnologias; e por outro lado, existe um factor comum que é a impossibilidade de distinguir entre a comunicação ponto-a-ponto e a difusão.

Author Biographies

Benedetta Prario, University of Lugano

Since October 2000 she has been working as a teaching assistant for the Media and Journalism Institute, University of Lugano, in particular for courses in Media strategy and Text Typologies. PhD degree in Communication Sciences at the University of Lugano in September 2004 with the dissertation “Transformations of the television industry with the advent of digitalization”. This is the subject of a book published by Peter Lang Verlag (2005).

Gabriele Balbi, University of Lugano

PhD Student in Communication Sciences at the University of Lugano, since September 2004. His thesis is related to early history of Italian telephone. He is a member of the Media and Journalism Institute. In 2007 he was Visiting Fellow at Harvard University from February to May and Visiting Research Student in Maastricht University from June to August. Since October 2004 he has been working as teaching assistant for the Media and Journalism Institute, for “Social history of communication” course.

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Published

2007-09-28

How to Cite

Prario, B., & Balbi, G. (2007). Ritorno al Futuro. Il presente ed il passato della Mobile Tv. Observatorio (OBS*), 1(2). https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS12200760

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2007)

Section

Articles

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