After days of political pressure, Antonio Baldassare, president of Italian state broadcaster RAI and final remaining board member Ettore Albertoni have agreed to step down from their positions - paving the way for new executive appointments to be made by Silvio Berlusconi's government.

Current RAI management has only been in place for a year.

Three of RAI's five board members - Carmine Donzelli, Luigi Zanda and Marco Staderini had already resigned in protest last November, leaving Baldassare and Albertoni - both politically close to Silvio Berlusconi - alone to vote on company decisions.

In recent weeks, RAI has come under fire for its tacky programs and low ratings - while its direct rival, Berlusconi's (equally tacky) private Mediaset network, continues to draw in high audiences.

However, pressure on RAI's management to depart heightened dramatically earlier this month, when the board voted to move RAI 2's headquarters from Rome - where the broadcaster's three networks have been stationed for over 50 years - to Milan.