RTVE is cheapest European public broadcaster
Details
Juan Fernandez Gonzalez
| 27 January 2017

Years of budget cutbacks have made Spain’s RTVE one of the cheapest public broadcasting corporations in Europe.

According to research led by the Santiago de Compostela University (USC) and supported by Spain’s federation of regional broadcasters (FORTA), RTVE costs less than its European counterparts in terms of cost per inhabitant and per home, and regarding GDP and purchasing power.

Using data collected in 2014, every European spent, on average, €66.90 to support public broadcasting corporations, both nationwide and regional. The highest expenses were for the Danes, who spent €164.10 each to finance the broadcaster DR. Spaniards, however, paid only €38.90 to support RTVE and regional broadcasters.

In relation to GDP, €2.40 out of each €1,000 produced by Denmark was allocated to public broadcasters. In Spain, the average was €1.70.

Spain’s public broadcasters have seen one of the largest budget cutbacks in Europe since the financial crisis started in 2008 and since which time RTVE and regional TV stations have seen their budget reduced by 35.2%.

RTVE’s attempt to control its expenses has resulted into lower programming quality over the years. In fact, the public broadcaster comes nowhere near to competing with the most watched free-to-air (FTA) network and is particularly failing to attract younger viewers.