(ANSA) - ROME, APR 15 - Top Italian TV presenter Amadeus is set to leave State broadcaster Rai, sources said after he had a meeting on Monday with Director General Giampaolo Rossi in Rome.
The 61-year-old has hosted a range of popular programmes on Rai and had been the presenter and artistic director of the iconic Sanremo Music Festival, which is also screened by the network, for the last five years.
He becomes the latest in a string of top TV stars to have left the broadcaster over the last few years.
Last summer journalist Bianca Berlinguer, the daughter of late Italian Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer who presented the Cartabianca political talk show on the Rai3 channel, quit Rai after 34 years and joined Mediaset.
Rai3 also recently lost two other popular left-leaning chat show hosts, Fabio Fazio and Lucia Annunziata, a former Rai chair.
Fazio, whose show was not renewed and moved to the Warner Bros Discovery Nove channel, said he was a victim of an alleged purge by the government.
Former Rai president and veteran journalist Annunziata also quit complaining about government meddling.
Other hosts including former Rai uno news anchor Lilly Gruber have moved to La7.
Amadeus is tipped to move to Nove too.
Amadeus, some of whose Sanremo shows have been criticised for some performers' liberal and anti-government stances, said it had not been an easy choice but it was time to pursue new dreams.
'Working at Rai for so many years has been a source of pride, responsibility and immense pleasure for me," he said on an Instagram video."My heartfelt thanks go to the public service."Saying goodbye to Rai, and thanking managers and staff, colleagues and artists, the Ravenna-born presenter said: 'it's time for new dreams'.
He also denied ever asking for jobs or favours for family members or friends.
Rai said it had made "every offer possible" to try to retain his services.
(ANSA).