Rome, January 27 - State broadcaster RAI said Wednesday that it is sacking Antonio Azzalini, the manager blamed for the early start to countdown to midnight on New Year's Eve. "After careful reflection RAI has decided to interrupt its working relationship with the manager who decided to start the New Year countdown early," RAI President Monica Maggioni told the parliamentary oversight committee of the State broadcaster. Azzalini was the programme director of RAI 1's L'Anno che Verra' (The Year to Come) show, which was blasted for anticipating the New Year's Eve countdown by around a minute during its live December 31, 2015, broadcast from the Basilicata city of Matera, which is to be the European Culture Capital in 2019. Azzolini said later he would appeal against his sacking, instructing his lawyers to ask magistrates "to acquire documents that were denied the defence in the disciplinary hearing".