From Last December Francisco Vidal returned to lead the board of directors of TVN. In this return to the presidency of the public signal, 17 years since the last time he held the position, the panorama is different and complex.
“What has changed substantially is the open television industry, towards the bad, towards the worse”explained the former minister in an interview with newspaper La Segunda in which he spoke about the current situation of the channel as a result of a carrying debt of 53 billion pesoswhich is being financed with a bank loan guaranteed by the State.
And to which is added a tuning crisis that keeps TVN in fourth place among the large open television channels.
“Last year the entire advertising pie, 900 billion pesos, was distributed as follows: 51% in digital media, 25% for open television, 10% on public roads, 7% on radio, 3% in newspapers and 5% on cable channels. Ten years ago that 25% of TV was 38% and 16 years ago it was more than 50%. So there is a crisis due to the very rapid emergence of digital media”explained Francisco Vidal.
In addition to the phenomenon that affects open TV worldwide, the president of the Board of Directors commented that “bad decisions made in previous years, such as having finished with the Dramatic Areawhich lowered the tune in the run-up to the news and schedule prime, which is where the largest amount of advertising financing enters the channels. Is a circle. All of this, from 2014 onwards, led to the debt we currently have.”
In that sense, he maintained that to have public television “You have to go to the clinic”. As he explained, “I am in favor of the channel continuing to compete on the main screen, because that gives fighting spirit to the troops. But what the State specifically requests for the channel is the cultural dimension like NTV and expanding the regional centers, because we do not have them in several areas, such as Arica-Parinacota or Aysén.”
“Maintaining each regional center costs 220 million pesos a year. We also want the international signal, which reaches 12 million subscribers in more than 20 countries, which is Chile’s external projection and which demands 8,500 million pesos a yearhave funding from the State so that public television exists,” he added.
Given this, he stated that “if someone looks surprised, my response is that That’s equivalent to 0.1 percent of the nation’s budget this year.”.
What are the settings in TVN?
Regarding changes in the public channel, Francisco Vidal emphasized that a new executive director, Susana Garcia; In addition to the designation of Javier Goldschmied and Gerson del Río in the direction of Programming and Pressrespectively.
“The people chosen for these positions were approved unanimously by the Board of Directors, which guarantees their plurality. But to make the background modifications we requireand that are fundamental for the country, we cannot rely solely on market financing“, said.
In addition, he explained that the Government will send a substitute indication to a bill sent in 2022 that partially modifies TVN’s financing and the composition of its board of directors. With this, he explained she, one seeks “the creation of an equity fund of about 4 billion pesos to sustain the international signal, NTV and the regional centers, but expanding them to the entire country, that is, the nine that exist plus another six.”
“It also expands the board of directors from seven to nine members, I imagine that to accommodate political sectors that are not currently represented, such as Republicans on the right and Apruebo Dignidad on the left. Additionally, the workers’ representative would have the right to vote”, the former minister deepened.
Along with the above, he indicated that “a non-binding advisory council would be established for the board made up of members of civil society and an additional initiative would be the creation of a public radio under the umbrella of TVN. Now, as this fund is not immediate, as long as the resources are not constituted, they would be integrated into the Budget law year by year.”
In this regard, Francisco Vidal pointed out that “The only alternative would be to forget about the public service and start competing commercially with the other channels. And there someone could tell us, with all reason, ‘why have a public channel if it is the same as the others, it is better to privatize it’ (…) now the debate is not academic, it has to do with survival.”
Programmatic changes
However, the president of the Board of Directors stated that “The objective is to get out of fourth place, improve audiences, advertising and end the deficit”. At a programmatic level, “the new manager is looking at how to raise the quality of the content and cover the gaps that we have today, because our schedule prime it is on the floor“.
“In addition, we want to try to recover the brand by being the screen of the State institutions and also of society with all the diversity that we currently have,” he commented to the evening newspaper, emphasizing that “You have to give space to entertainment.”
Specifically, Francisco Vidal highlighted the growth that the central news program has had, the program Carmen Gloria at your serviceand announced that Congress of the Futurebefore CNN Chile, will move to TVN, and that there are projects with the United Nations.
