TV and telecoms operators paid 160 M€ to RTVE last year
Last year RTVE suffered a significant reduction in the subsidies received for its operation. It received 1,017 million euros in 2022, 14% less than in the previous year, according to the corporation’s recently published financial accounts.
The biggest hole was produced by the lower contribution of the subsidy for public service compensation, which fell to 431 million euros. This is 156 million less than the amount received in 2021.
The fee for the reservation of the public radio domain remained unchanged last year at 410 million euros.
The third most important source of revenue for RTVE is the contribution made each year by private television and telecommunications operators. For this item, public television received 160 million euros, compared to 167 million euros in 2021.
Most of this was injected by telecommunications operators, who paid 100 million euros last year (5 million less than in the previous year). These companies have been paying RTVE 0.9% of their gross operating revenues since 201o.
Free-to-air broadcasters have paid 41.9 million euros (-3%) and pay-TVs, 17.9 million (-3%). This reduction is due to the advertising recession that TV channels experienced last year. Free-to-air operators pay 3% of their gross operating revenues to RTVE and pay-TV operators pay 1.5%. The contributions of these private companies may not exceed 15% and 20%, respectively, of RTVE’s revenues.
In addition, RTVE received a further 11 million euros to support its Orchestra and Choir.
The public broadcaster also receives income from the sale of its productions and advertising space within fairly restrictive limits. This commercial income fell by 2.4% last year. The figure is not broken down in the corporation’s official accounts.
437 million in staff
On the expenditure side, the most important item is personnel, which amounted to 437 million euros last year, compared to 451 million euros the previous year. RTVE ended the year with 6,765 employees (a hundred less than in the previous year), with an average remuneration of 52,074 euros, 10% less. Senior management received an average remuneration of almost 147,000 euros, plus 13,000 euros in variables.
The purchase of audiovisual rights amounted to 289 million euros last year, which is a significant decrease compared to 2021, when the figure was 367 million euros. It should be remembered that in 2021 the Olympic Games will be held, with the increase in costs that this entails for RTVE.
Another important item of expenditure is that of external services, which totals 220 million euros, but which RTVE does not break down in its financial accounts either.
Thus, RTVE’s net result last year was 17.1 million euros, compared to 28.7 million in 2021. The severe reduction in subsidies has led to this cut in profits. And the debt last year was 247 million euros at the end of the year, much higher than the 170 million in 2021.
