Radio TV Valencia, the TV & radio broadcaster owned by the Valencia region, has announced it is to fire 76% of its workforce as being “surplus to requirements”.
Out of the 1.695 people employed by the publically owned broadcater, only 400 people will keep their jobs.
RRTV will cut its wage bill from 74 million euros to just 17 million for next year as part of a drastic austerity drive at the station. A further 12 million euros a year will be saved by outsourcing.
The broadcaster, which owes the banks 1.3 billion euros (yup, you saw the b correctly) is desperate to balance the books as quickly as possible. The new director general of the station said that the current employment structure of the company, setup in the 80’s and which has since seen two decades of balloning, needed dragging into the 21st century.
RRTV plans to cut back on all broadcasting mediums, and plans to have just 2 TV channels and 2 radio channels, all of which will also be available online, and will concentrate its efforts on producing good quality news and information about Valencia region.
The cuts come after a new law allowing RRTV to reorganise itself was passed on the 12th of July by the Valencian Region. RRTV must become more self financing, and is allowed to enter into public private partnership with other broadcasters to raise revenue. The PSOE said that the new law was the first step towards privatisation and refused to back it.
Angry workers stormed the 2pm news bulletin on Canal 9 waving flags and blowing whistles. The feed was then broken and replaced with a nature documentary, according to El Mundo.