Italy's broadcasters moved online in their own ways, and each draws the line between Italy and the rest of the world in a different place.
RaiPlay is the public broadcaster's platform. It streams Rai 1, Rai 2, Rai 3 and the thematic channels live, alongside a large on-demand library, and asks for a free account for most of it. Rai also runs Rai Italia, a separate international channel for Italians abroad, but RaiPlay itself is the full domestic offer, and a good share of its films, fiction and sport is limited to Italy for rights reasons.
Mediaset Infinity carries Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete 4, with a free tier and paid extras. Its rights work in a similar way: news and entertainment shows travel more easily than films and football. La7, the smaller independent broadcaster, is known for news, talk shows and current affairs, and is among the more open of the three.
Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ add another layer. Each has an Italian catalogue with Italian productions and dubbed versions that may not appear elsewhere.
A VPN changes one thing in all of this: the country these platforms see when they check your IP address. Free registration and paid subscriptions remain exactly as each service sets them.
Visitors to Italy tend to think about the other half of what a VPN does. Hotels, trains and cafes in the piazza offer free Wi-Fi to anyone, and encryption keeps passwords and bookings private on networks shared with strangers.
RaiPlay is the public broadcaster's platform. It streams Rai 1, Rai 2, Rai 3 and the thematic channels live, alongside a large on-demand library, and asks for a free account for most of it. Rai also runs Rai Italia, a separate international channel for Italians abroad, but RaiPlay itself is the full domestic offer, and a good share of its films, fiction and sport is limited to Italy for rights reasons.
Mediaset Infinity carries Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete 4, with a free tier and paid extras. Its rights work in a similar way: news and entertainment shows travel more easily than films and football. La7, the smaller independent broadcaster, is known for news, talk shows and current affairs, and is among the more open of the three.
Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ add another layer. Each has an Italian catalogue with Italian productions and dubbed versions that may not appear elsewhere.
A VPN changes one thing in all of this: the country these platforms see when they check your IP address. Free registration and paid subscriptions remain exactly as each service sets them.
Visitors to Italy tend to think about the other half of what a VPN does. Hotels, trains and cafes in the piazza offer free Wi-Fi to anyone, and encryption keeps passwords and bookings private on networks shared with strangers.
