Enrico Mentana to leave TgLa7 on 23 December as his contract ends

The announcement

Enrico Mentana confirmed he will step away from the TgLa7 news programme after 23 December 2026, when his contract with the broadcaster expires at the end of the year and will not be renewed. He made the announcement on stage at the Premio Franco Marchiaro in Alessandria, where he received an award as a witness of journalism, and then confirmed the contract detail to ANSA. Asked what he would do afterwards, he sidestepped with a remark that he would take the Christmas holidays. Since July 2010 he has run the channel's news, and in those sixteen years his election specials became a trademark of the programme.

“I will say goodbye to my viewers on 23 December, it will be my last day presenting the TgLa7 news.”

Contract and the Cairo exchange

Mentana's contract with publisher Urbano Cairo ends at the end of the year, and no renewal has been agreed. In July, at the presentation of the schedules in Milan, Cairo publicly praised him and said he was always happy to have him at the channel. Cairo also said the two would meet near the deadline to see whether Mentana wanted to stay or pursue other projects. His public invitation did not change the outcome.

“The renewal on a handshake, perhaps not. Contracts have to be made.”

Why the exit matters for La7

Fanpage describes the departure as a significant editorial and industrial gap for the channel, because the 20:00 news has long been the central pillar of its prime-time schedule. Mentana gave that bulletin its identity and, through formats such as the election marathons, brought it wide authority and popularity. In May, at the Festival della Tv in Dogliani, he said that a centre-right voter could not feel at home watching La7's programmes, since some guests seemed comfortable and others were not. At the Alessandria ceremony he also said the average age of news viewers is closer to 70 than to 65.

“No young person watches the news programmes, and the ways people perceive news are different.”

Speculation about what comes next

Reports, none confirmed by an official announcement, have linked Mentana to Antenna Group, the Greek group led by Theo Kyriakou, which is said to be preparing an all-news channel in Italy modelled on CNN. According to those reports, Mentana would be one of the preferred names to lead the editorial project. At a schedule presentation, Pier Silvio Berlusconi said Mentana has his professional esteem and opened the door to a possible return, provided a project matched what both sides wanted. An earlier approach from Canale Nove now appears to have been dropped. Fanpage reports that Antonio Di Bella seems the most accredited name to succeed him as director.

A career across three networks

Mentana joined Rai in 1980 at the foreign desk of TG1, and became deputy director of TG2 in 1989. In 1991 he moved to Fininvest, where he founded the Tg5 newscast, which launched in January 1992 with him as its first director until 2004. He then created and presented Matrix on Canale 5 in 2005, and left Mediaset in 2009 after a clash with the company. The timeline below sets those milestones alongside the TgLa7 years and the announcement.