The voluntary redundancy program for up to 250 RTP workers was suggested by the company’s board of directors, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pedro Duarte said in parliament on Wednesday.

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs highlighted this Wednesday that the voluntary dismissal program of up to 250 RTP workers was suggested by the company’s board of directors, which considers the staff to be “expensive and inadequate.”

“This is a measure that the Board of Directors requested of us, which we support.” because we were presented with very clear reasons for the need to renew the staffwhich is considered by the Board of Directors, and I quote, expensive and inadequate, and I agree,” stated the minister.

Pedro Duarte spoke in the parliamentary committee on Culture, Communication, Youth and Sports, within the framework of the demands of the Left Bloc (BE), PCP, PS, Chega and Livre about the Action Plan for Social Communication announced by the Government . .

Restructuring of RTP, hiring incentives and bonus subscriptions. The Government’s plan for the media

HE Governor highlighted that these departures are voluntary and, therefore, requested by employees. “It is in that sense that this plan advances,” he stated.

The minister assured that the executive has no intention of changing the RTP staff and that this voluntary exit plan has no relation to the withdrawal of commercial advertising from the public channel.

End of RTP advertising and termination plan will make company “unsustainable”, opinion council warns

“The voluntary exit plan is something that already existed when we came to the Government, which is written in the strategic plan” of the company, he stressed.

Pedro Duarte pointed out that two scenarios were created: one with up to 80 workers and another with up to 250 workers. “The Government’s option is: if they asked us for up to 250 workers, we would authorize up to 250 workers.”

According to the Government’s media plan, RTP television networks should progressively eliminate, over the next three years, commercial advertising from their programming. At the same time, the reduction in time dedicated to commercial advertising must be offset by promotional spaces and cultural events, according to the plan.

How much are six minutes (of advertising) worth in RTP accounts?

A second measure applied to the public radio and television group is the Reorganization and modernization plan, which will have a maximum cost of 19.9 million euros.and compensation for voluntary departures represents an “estimated saving of 7.3 million euros per year,” according to the plan.

RTP’s voluntary exit plan has an exit limit of 250 workers, with the hiring of a new worker with a different profile – digital – for every two exits.

“The only thing” that is changed is “the source of financing for 9% of RTP’s income”, according to the minister

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs stated this Wednesday that the “only” thing that the Government is changing is the “source of financing for 9% of RTP’s income”, the weight of which has been reducing.

Pedro Duarte spoke in the parliamentary committee on Culture, Communication, Youth and Sports, within the framework of the demands of the Left Bloc (BE), PCP, PS, Chega and Livre about the Action Plan for Social Communication announced by the Government . .

HE The end of RTP advertising will be gradual over the next three years, with a reduction of two minutes/hour in 2025 and 2026with an estimated total cost of 20 million euros and a revenue reduction impact of around 6.6 million euros per year.

The government official, in response to the PS, said that the the fact of saying “that there is a decapitalization plan, a dismemberment plan [da RTP] “It is clearly exaggerated, not to say unreasonable.”

Especially because “the only thing we are changing is the source of financing for 9% of RTP’s income, a 9% that even if If we do nothing, perhaps next year it will be 8% and then 7%,” the minister continued.

“Financing of commercial advertising in RTP has been falling drastically over the years”Pedro Duarte pointed out, citing that it was recently written that in 1993 “it was worth 73% of the budget” of the public media group.

“Today it is worth 9%, even if we did nothing, this income would probably end, we are accelerating this end,” the government official insisted.

“Compensate RTP in other ways and release RTPsimilar to what happens, for example, in the BBC, in TVE, in the majority of Nordic public stations that do not have commercial advertising and that are very relevant in their country,” he stated.

Given this, “we live in a world of absolutely crazy fiction and I admit that only the temptation to oppose for the sake of opposition can lead to not thinking calmly and serenely” about the measures that are proposed, he considered.

Pedro Duarte said that what the Government proposes, “and that is what is essential,” is the “reinforcement of the role of RTP” in society.

Still in response to the PS deputy, Mara Lagriminha, who stated that RTP is a company that does not cause problems for the State, the official responded: “But I think so.”

“I am not talking about the financial point of view, nor about its management, I say it because I believe that the RTP only makes sense if it truly provides the public media service society needs today”, he stressed.

And “it gives me a lot of headaches because I know the future that awaits me. It has nothing to do with the RTP of today, it has to do with the RTP of tomorrow,” added the minister.

If “we do nothing, believe me, we can all have the best intentions, the best managers at the head of RTP, the best journalists, but if we do not provide the conditions” for the company to modernize and adapt to new audiences and new times, “RTP tends toward irrelevance,” he concluded, noting that This “applies to any television” and throughout Europe.

The official pointed out that RTP audiences are lower than the executive would like and warned that they are also higher.

According to Pedro Duarte, 64% of RTP1’s audience is over 65 years old, while between 15 and 35 years old this percentage is “just over 5%.”

The Media Action Plan contains 30 measures and foresees the end of RTP advertising in 2027.

“DTT is a project that did not prosper,” according to Minister Pedro Duarte

Digital terrestrial television (DTT) “is a project that failed”, since it is used by around 2% of the population and represents a cost of 12 million euros per year for RTP, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs stated this Wednesday.

Pedro Duarte spoke in the parliamentary committee on Culture, Communication, Youth and Sports, within the framework of the demands of the Left Bloc (BE), PCP, PS, Chega and Livre about the Action Plan for Social Communication announced by the Government . .

“History shows us that DTT is a project that was not successful. Today what we know is that DTT is used by an absolutely small percentageIt probably does not reach 3% of the Portuguese population,” lamented the government official.

At the moment, “It is a brutal burden that, perhaps, one day we will have to rethinkas long as everyone’s access to television is guaranteed,” said Pedro Duarte.

DTT”It exists to guarantee access to all, but we can guarantee this right in a cheaper way”Perhaps it is another fat that, eventually, RTP will be able to cut,” especially since the state group “spends, I think, (…) 12 million a year” on digital terrestrial television.

Advertising “All the commercials we have are spent on DTT and we still have to reinforce it and, I repeat, reach two point one percent of the Portuguese population,” he noted.

Without devaluing that 2% of the population that uses DTT, “what I am saying is that we can have, perhaps, Much more efficient and economical solutions.”, he concluded.