This is the umpteenth cutback plan for RTVE, whose payroll is bloated and ratings are down. In 2013, the station had to take on 130 million euros in bailout funds plus other budget easing to stay afloat.
RTVE's figures are scary, and president Leopoldo González Echenique is working on a stiff cutback plan to help fix a 700-million euro deficit. Cutbacks will start with station programming and move on to staff. After director Ignacio Corrales left, the company launched a program to save 50 million euros per year and fire 500 workers, which was the only way it would get stimulus funding from the Finance Ministry. González Echenique is going to cut programs, which is the obvious thing to do since programs such as El Pueblo más divertido and Tenemos que hablar are failing hard. The next step is to merge Teledeporte and La 2. This plan is solid, but won't be enough.
RTVE employs 6,400 workers compared to 1,360 at Mediaset and 1,700 at Atresmedia. Do they really need so many people? Looking at viewer numbers, in 2013 RTVE trailed Mediaset and Atremedia. Some people are pressuring the company to not make cutbacks, but Echenique should stand tough and get the board to approve his plan.
This is the only hope for the station, which should start to focus more on overall quality than viewing numbers. Its managers should understand that RTVE can survive if it trims the budget, which is something they have refused to do so far.
