RTVE’s situation a real drama for the producers

Iñaki Ferreras ©RapidTVNews | 02-06-2012


Spain’s national public broadcaster Corporación RTVE is going through its worst times ever.
The president of Associated Television Production in Spain (PATE), Jose Manuel Lorenzo, said that the situation of TVE, without a president since Alberto Oliart resigned in July 2011 and with their budgets cut this year, is a "drama" for the sector.
In an interview in the latest issue of the Journal of the Academy of Sciences and Arts Televisio, Lorenzo advocated establishing "rules that allow television producers and the public to fully understand and conquer the domestic and international markets. That's what the BBC has done very well," he said, adding that it was "quite shameful" that TVE has gone more than nine months without a president.
"They cannot approve their budgets, do not know where to apply the cut, have no road map..." said Lorenzo, who hopes that the public "is able to establish their roadmap, invigorate the sector and not damage anything so valuable as the production of fiction. "
Lorenzo insisted that it is "important" that in Spain there is a public television "strong, independent, with some great information and, above all, that is one of the great engines of development of Spanish industry in the creation of entertainment, fiction, animation or documentary," and he cited the role played by the BBC.
"I see a public broadcaster with a commitment to rights that do not have to gamble or to be the great vehicle of American cinema in Spain," says the president of the PATE, referring to TVE investment in sports rights and American fiction.
Lorenzo said it is necessary to "design a plan to revitalise the domestic industry" and prevent the occurrence of a "domino effect" after the reduction of TVE investment in national fiction to other private channels.