RTVE ‘won’t lose out’

Spain's national public broadcaster RTVE will keep its full budget despite its recently announced loss of advertising. María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, first vice-president, said that the government will contribute an extra €1,100 millon towards the financing of the public broadcaster.

"This figure will stabilize the broadcaster's employment rolls," she said. But at the same time she recognized "everybody agrees digitalization of the TV channels will lead us to work in a different way. From then on the television that will be made will depend on the workers and professionals of the company who by the way are among the best in Spanish television."

Fernández de la Vega said that the new financial model of RTVE will be known in a few weeks and will be implemented this year.

Viewers, through their association named the Communication Users Association (AUC in Spanish) does not oppose cuts in advertising on public broadcasters, both national and regional. On the contrary the Association agrees that advertising income should stay at 30-35% of total public TV channel incomes. This would, says the association, “be in favour of a better content quality, more innovation and in the end to satisfy the public's demand more closely.

"But in a crisis situation such as this one,” a note from the association continues, “deleting totally advertising from the public broadcasters would gravely compromise the necessary resources for their maintenance and the fulfillment of public service and at the same time it would lead them to a marginal role or even to their disappearance - something the private TV channels may surely want," the note concludes.

AUC fears that future TV network mergers may lead to the disappearance of public-service television in Spain. The Association interprets Antena 3's latest declarations as an intention of not so much cutting down on advertisements on the public broadcaster but making it disappear in reality.