Hold The Public Broadcasting Revolution, Just Run Out The Clock

Michael Hedges September 3, 2012 Follow on Twitter

The biggest challenge for public broadcasters, say some, isn’t funding. Even the richest public broadcasters feel the heat, from commercial broadcasters, new media, publishers and, of course, the politicians. It’s existential. And the long debate sometimes runs out of time.

The directors of Portugal’s public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) resigned late last Friday (August 31), responding to government moves to privatize one public television channel and close the other. The entire board, including president Guilherme Costa, submitted their resignations to Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Miguel Relvas, who immediately accepted. The directors will remain in office until the government names replacements, possibly this week.

Government advisor Antonio Borges announced last week that the privatization and closure plan was “on the table.” Reports of the drastic change for Portugal’s public broadcaster have circulated widely through the last year. The Portuguese government reached agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission (EC) to privatize State-owned companies including RTP, airline TAP-Air Portugal, water company Aguas de Portugal and the national postal service Correios (CTT) in return for a €78 billion euro financial bailout.

Most if not all European public broadcasting services have been forced to pare down expenses as the traditional revenue mix – license fee, State subsidy and advertising – stagnates or declines. Budget cuts have sent public broadcasters scrambling to find less painful places to chop, from sports rights to orchestras and digital projects to staff. The Greek government restructured public broadcaster ERT from State-owned to public company in 2011 after two years negotiating with trade unions resulted in little more than industrial actions. Some services have been merged, others curtailed.

Dismal economics have taken a toll on public broadcasters. Those relying on advertising revenues or increases in compulsory license fees have been hit hard. While there’s no single funding model, European public broadcasters benefited greatly from reasonably stable revenue sources, guaranteeing forward-looking investment in technologies as well as major productions. Those days are, it seems, largely over.

Changes in funding for Poland’s public radio and television broadcasters have been on the government’s agenda for the last year. And the debate could continue for another two, maybe three years, said Minister of Administration and Digitization Michal Boni, quoted by wirtualnemedia.pl (August 31). In March Minister Boni promised a new draft media law with attention to public broadcasting funding by the end of August. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in June that a new plan for public broadcasting funding would be ready “in a matter of weeks.” And in July Minister for Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski alluded to “different solutions” for public broadcasting funding.

“Today public media in Poland needs ongoing support,” said Minister Boni, “but absolutely needs effective systemic change to its operation. Ideas that began germinating earlier this year “require further research and comparative analysis, including other funding models that exist in the world.”

“One of the options you will want to consider is the approach based on the idea of public service broadcasting without ads or limiting their impact on the funding needs of the mission public mission,” he continued. “This would mean that a larger portion of the advertising market would be available to broadcaster other than the public broadcaster.” That would “allow co-financing the public service remit in exchange for giving a large part of the advertising market to commercial broadcasters.”

“The discussion must start now so that in two or three years these solutions can be put into practice, for example, from 2015,” he added.

“The current question is how best (public) TV raises funds,” said National Radio and Television Council (KRRiT) president Jan Dworak, a former board chairman of TVP, quoted by wirtualnemedia.pl (August 30). “For me it is the model of public service broadcasting in Germany, where share of the advertising market is limited, and the BBC, where there is no advertising at all. If you step the public media out of dependence on the advertising market only then will it have a chance to properly fulfill its function.”

“It does not necessarily have to be a revolution, not necessarily something new,” Mr. Dworak continued, “but without a doubt you need to verify the public media model that was designed twenty years ago. Paradoxically, it is not a matter of funding, which says so much. You need to get an overview of the tasks public media should perform today… and all of this in the context of the economy. Funding is a very important consequence of this discussion, not the beginning. The public media in Europe is today one of its most important institutions.”

See also in ftm Knowledge

Media in Spain and Portugal

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Media in Poland

Poland is the largest media market of the new EU Member States and the changes have often been surprising, sometimes radical and never ending. Publishers, broadcasters and new media are plentiful, talented and under constant stress. ftm has its eye on Poland. 80 pages PDF Includes Poland's neighbor Belarus, resources (August 2011)

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Public Broadcasting - Arguments, Battles and Changes

Public broadcasters have - mostly - thrown off the musty stain of State broadcasting. And audiences for public channels are growing. But arguments and battles with politicians, publishers and commercial broadcasters threatens more changes. The ftm Knowledge file examines all sides. 64 pages PDF (January 2010)

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