The channel is known for its in-depth political analysis, talk shows, and investigative journalism, often serving as an alternative to Italy’s major public and commercial broadcasters.

The official voice-over announcer of La7 is the renowned dubbing artist Francesco Prando,[2] while advertising sales are managed by Cairo Pubblicità.

Signal overspill means that parts of Albania, Croatia, Switzerland, Malta, Montenegro, Monaco and Slovenia also receive La7 broadcasts.

During that time, the channel was one of the only two competitors of the Italian public television network RAI, broadcasting in colour (TV Koper-Capodistria launched in 1971).

Since the introduction of Mediaset channels, TMC survived with some difficulties until 2001, but in 1999 the last owner, the film producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori, sold the network to SEAT Pagine Gialle.

However, President Pompidou declined the proposal Technical tests in SÉCAM color intended for Italy took place in June 1971[5] with the establishment of UHF channel 35, broadcast in the PAL-G standard with a power of 50 kW.

The first show transmitted by Telemontecarlo was Un peu d'amour, d'amitié et beaucoup de musique ("A Little Bit of Love, Friendship and a Lot of Music"), hosted by Jocelyn Hattab, who couldn't speak proper Italian at the time, and his wife Sophie.

[8] In its first year, Télé Monte Carlo began broadcasting its programs in color,[9] standing out among Italian viewers' television options, as Rai channels did not yet have this technology until 1977.

The program lasted ten minutes, being divided into two parts: in the first (Notiziario), the announcer Antonio Devia read the most important news of the day, written by Il Giornale.

[12] In the second (Editoriale), Indro Montanelli (or one of the Milanese newspaper's main columnists, such as Enzo Bettiza, Mario Cervi or Cesare Zappulli) presented his opinion on the day's event.

[18] In 1979, Sandra Mondaini also joined the Monegasque channel with the variety program Stasera mi sento milionaria, in prime time.

[20] That year, some of its programs (produced in the Antenna 3 Lombardia studios, in Milan) started to be broadcast on the Monegasque network, such as the morning show Telemattina and the quiz Scusi, le faccio un assegno?, shown in the early evening.

Also in 1980, Gianfranco Funari debuted his own program, the nightly talk show Torti in faccia, recorded at the station's Milan branch.

From the mid-eighties onwards, Tele Monte-Carlo, which until then had a good audience in Italy, gradually began to disappear from the television scene, due to the growth of large national private networks, mainly the Fininvest Group.

[31] Opened in 1986, it became Telemontecarlo's main studio (while the Monte Carlo and Milan branches had their functions increasingly reduced) and remained in operation until 1998.

As a result of the purchase, several Brazilian programs were shown in an Italian version, such as the telenovelas Gabriela, Dancin' Days, Água Viva, Louco Amor, Pão Pão, Beijo-Beijo, Final Feliz, Selva de Pedra, Sinhá Moça, Cambalacho, Guerra dos Sexos, Terras dos Sem-Fim and Roda de Fogo.

[23] In addition to telenovelas, the network also aired miniseries and Brazilian TV series, such as Rabo de Saia, A Máfia no Brasil, Lampião e Maria Bonita, Anarquistas, Graças a Deus and Armação Ilimitada.

At that time, some American TV shows for children were also shown, such as Get Smart,[32] Batman, I misteri di Nancy Drew[33] and Secrets and Mysteries.

[53] From 1992 to 1993, the schedule was also filled with new programs such as La più bella sei tu[54] and Tappeto Volante, with Luciano Rispoli (accompanied by Melba Ruffo),[55] Verde Fazzuoli, by Federico Fazzuoli,[56] and began a series of experimental programs targeting young people, produced by Lorenzo Torraca, such as T.R.I.B.U., with Gegè Telesforo,[57] and The Lion Trophy Show, with Emily De Cesare.

[65] On 4 January 1994, Montedison (which was already controlled by Antonio Ferruzzi) completed the acquisition of Telemontecarlo,[66] and appointed Emmanuele Milano (former director of Rai 1) to the role of general manager of the network.

[79] However, the network's average audience did not reach (except in some cases) the expected levels, not even managing to consolidate the channel as the third largest on Italian TV.

[59] The highlights of the sports programming of the period were Il Processo di Biscardi on Monday nights, migrated from TMC 2 to the main network,[80] and Goleada (updated version of Galagol) with Massimo Caputi (also previously broadcast on TMC 2),[81] in the first edition accompanied by Martina Colombari, in the second by Ela Weber[82] and in the third by footballer and coach Carolina Morace.

[83] On 12 February 1997, Telemontecarlo was the first private television network to broadcast an exclusive football match for the Italian team valid for the World Cup qualifiers, England x Italy.

[92] On 10 March 2000, at 11:10 pm, the first episode of the series Sex and the City with Sarah Jessica Parker aired, part of a women's talk show entitled Sesso, parlano le donne, presented by Anna Pettinelli.

The Monaco office remained open for a few more months due to the fact that the network broadcast the European Football Championship in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2000.

[96][97] The new owner decided that, to relaunch the network once and for all, it was necessary to adopt an entirely new form and name, to make it capable of competing with the main national channels of the time.

On 24 June of that year, during the gala program Prima serata, presented by Fabio Fazio and Luciana Littizzetto,[2] LA7 was officially launched through a symbolic gesture carried out at 10:35 pm, when the presenters made a live link at a viewer's home, asking her to press the 7 button on her remote control to stop the rotation of the logo, which began to rotate on the screen as the program began.

In 2001, Lorenzo Pellicioli and Roberto Colaninno of Telecom Italia announced they had acquired Telemontecarlo, to create a strong competitor against the six other national channels in Italy.