The Minister Secretary General of Government, Camila Vallejo, described the substitute indication that the Executive will present with various changes to the corporate governance and financing method of Televisión Nacional de Chile as a “necessary transformation and modernization”(TVN)which includes funding via endowment of the State estimated at US$ 30 million. That is, a fund that will be invested and from which certain returns are expected. The spokesperson explained to DF the objectives of the norm that will be entered into the Chamber of Deputies coming soon.
What is the importance of TVN’s modernization?
We have been working since the first year of government to analyze all the legislative initiatives of the two previous governments regarding TVN and in both experiences it was agreed that the financing model was exhausted and, therefore, we presented this bill with the aim of revitalizing the public mission of TVN and beginning to consolidate a mixed financing system. That is to say, for the first time it incorporates a permanent public financing component, but at the same time it reinforces its autonomy and does not make -through public financing- TVN ends up under the ups and downs of the political cycle every four years or the contingent debate of the Budget Law.
What is the funding formula? There is talk of an endowment…
The project has a mixed financing proposal. This implies that private financing will be maintained and there are two TVN lines that will receive exclusively private financing, therefore, they will continue to compete with the other private media, which are the national linear television signal and 24 hours.. But, in the rest, a more mixed formula is produced where they will receive resources in transition to the endowment starting to make money according to the Budget Law. Once the endowment becomes profitable, the channel obviously begins to become independent of the Budget Law.
“A democracy requires a diverse media ecosystem and it is very strange that in this ecosystem there is no public radio. “Televisión Nacional must be aligned with the standards of other public companies (…), which have a representative of workers with voting rights on their board of directors.”
How does it work?
As the minister explained, The endowment is a patrimonial fund scheme that is generally used to stabilize and provide certainty to institutions. that have implemented it in terms of financing.
“It is a reservation and has a structure that is independent of TVN and also independent of the governments in power”Vallejo said, adding that they are proposing it in light of the experiences that exist in Chile with non-profit foundations and also on the international level. The idea is for it to have a board of directors of five members, with experience in investment matters and who – as investment managers – seek to make the initial fund profitable.
“We hope that through this profitability we will reach an income of at least $5.5 billion to partially support the burdens that TVN has. We are talking about regional centres, the cultural channel, which is the family channel, the international signal or the future radio station that has already decided to have,” said the Secretary of State.
What will be the initial amount of the endowment and how will the investment be managed?
It will have an initial capital of US$30 million that is expected to be raised in a maximum of three years and should be profitable. The Ministry of Finance will be able to explain this further in the presentation of the financial report, but we expect it to have a profitability of 4%, in the order of $5.5 billion.
How will it be ensured that this amount does not affect competition with other channels?
Precisely because we are excluding from public funding the linear signal, which is the one that competes directly with other channels, and 24 hours, which is also competing, because we understand that there are already rules of the game created in the television market and that they compete for the advertising pie. We said that we were not going to intervene in those rules and, therefore, the linear signal does not receive public funds and neither does the 24H.
But also, To ensure that they are financed separately, what the law establishes is a separate cost center that also makes the work of reporting audits much easier, taking into account, obviously, the separate cost structure of the different lines.
The important thing about the law is also to enshrine the fact that we need a public medium.If we do not inject resources into it, there is no way to sustain the children’s channel, and in the future it will probably be very difficult to sustain the regional centers.
“We are excluding the linear signal from public financingwhich is the one that competes directly with other channels and 24 hours because we understand that there are already rules of the game in the television market and that they compete for the advertising pie.”
Public radio and workers
Why is a state radio station also necessary and how will it be financed?
A democracy requires a diverse media ecosystem and it is very strange that there is no public radio in this ecosystem. Regarding its financing, what we are saying is that the public financing generated through the endowment fund should serve to support the different lines that TVN has or creates in the fulfillment of its public mission, with the exception of the linear signal and 24 hours.
Therefore, it will be part of the preparation of TVN’s own annual budget, which is approved by its board of directors. We understand that the board has already approved the creation of a radio station, at least digital for the moment, and that it has the experimental radio permit., but we hope that it will soon have a space in the radio frequency system.
What is the reason for employee participation in the board of directors?
It is a conviction that we have at TVN. It is a public company, it obviously has a mixed economic regime, because it is both a public company and a public corporation.We believe that Televisión Nacional must be aligned with the standards of other public companies in Chile, which have a representative of workers with voting rights on their board of directors.
And also because We believe that workers not only have a voice, but can also influence some decisions, Considering the obvious disqualifications that apply to any director, which are sometimes applied to issues that are of direct interest.
Isn’t there a risk of politicizing workers?
We understand that the board is a space that has to be pluralistic and represent different views. Today, the majority of members of the board are activists. Saying that by giving voting rights to workers, they become politicized when the board of directors is already quite political, is a weak excuse, considering the reality.
Was there any thought given to depoliticizing the board and promoting directors with expertise in communications?
We are also obviously raising the standards for the presentation of the appointment profiles of directors and directors.considering not a technocratization, but a slightly higher standard of experience that they can have in the field of communication or management and that is part of the bill.
