Collaborative networks in the TV fiction industry: Italian serials and sitcoms before the digital switch off (1996-2009)

In this short paper I propose to analyze the transformations in the Italian TV fiction production industry adopting the sociological perspective of the production of culture approach (Di Maggio, 1977), and specifically focus on the dispute between autonomy and control in the production of popular culture. First, I will be looking at the relations between the political and regulatory policy of Italian tv broadcasting and the evolution of audiovisual fiction productions in the decade anticipating the so-called ‘digital switch- off’ (1996-2009) and the proliferation of TV channels. According to Martina and Palmieri [2015], during this decade Italian TV fiction ‘became the field on which the huge battle, or rather imbalance, between import and export was played out in favor of the latter’; the same battle, however, paved the way for renoval of Italian serial fiction productions before the emergence of digital television offer. Second, applying the methodology of social network analysis (SNA) to map the space of the Italian television industry, I will show how television broadcasters re-allocated resources in new areas and launched collaborative programs with other national and international broadcasters, developing new organizational forms for managing cultural prominence. Described in organizational studies as constellations, these collaborations under specific institutional and market conditions have proved to incentivize innovation in the diverse cultural sectors.