The waters were moving revolts in RTVE and the negotiations around the signing of David Broncano have been the straw that broke the camel’s back in the Inside war that had been brewing for some time in the public corporation. And the glass has finally overflowed, since both the president of RTVE, Elena Sanchezas the general content director, José Pablo López, have been terminated at the Board of Directors meeting held this Tuesday morning, after various disagreements between them in recent weeks.
The frustrated ‘operation Broncano’ had shown the great differences between both managers. Basically, because he was the main supporter of his hiring and the vote against Sánchez on the 11th left the signing in the air until the council this Tuesday, where the agreement with the production company had to be reassessed. ‘The resistance’ (Encofrados Encofrasa and El Terrat, from Mediapro), which ends its contract with Movistar Plus+ next July.
However, the decision to incorporate it into the public chain has been relegated by the earthquake lived in the meeting, which ended with Sánchez and López jumping from their positions. The council will meet again this Wednesday to decide whether the presidency will now be rotatingand there it could also be settled if the agreement with Broncano finally comes out ahead.
Domino effect
López’s departure has been possible thanks to the votes in favor of the president and three PP councilors (Jenaro Castro, Carmen Sastre and Consuelo Aparicio), as well as one of the two counselors of Unidas Podemos (José Manuel Martín Medem). The other representative of Podemos has voted against the dismissal (Roberto Lakidain), the two counselors of the PSOE (Ramón Colom and Concepción Cascajosa) and that of the PNV (Juan José Baños).
López’s dismissal has caused a domino effect, with Lakidain’s proposal to vote for the dismissal of Sánchez herself, interim president who took office a year and a half ago on a provisional basis, after the unexpected resignation of José Manuel Pérez Tornero. Six of the eight members of the council have voted in favor: the three from the PP, the two from the PSOE and Lakidain himself (Vamos). Martín Medem has been against it, while the counselor at the proposal of the PNV has abstained.
‘The Resistance’, a program that won an Ondas in 2019, was going to be TVE’s big bet to revitalize the ‘access prime time’, which now occupies the ‘4 stars’ series. By the way, another objective was to attract more young audiences, frequent on social networks where Broncano’s interviews tend to go viral thanks, above all, to his star questions about sex and money.
Compete against ‘El Hormiguero’
His great rival to beat would be ‘The Anthill’undisputed audience leader and who already got rid of another television totem last September, Jorge Javier Vazquez and his ephemeral ‘Chinese Tales’ on Telecinco.
The proposal that reached the Board of Directors of RTVE on March 11, in an extraordinary meeting, was the hiring of ‘The Resistance’ by David Broncano for three years and 14 million euros per season, but the votes were divided: four in favor and four against. The president, with her vote, had to tip the balance and went from abstention to ‘no’, which would have caused the top management discomfortwhich practically sealed the agreement.
“Was The drop that filled the glass because the relations between the president and the directors were already very tense,” sources close to the corporation told EL PERIÓDICO. The confirmation of the internal war that was brewing became evident just one day later, when the senior management of TVE gave stood up to the president, as a sign of his discomfort at the situation generated.
After the stoppage of Broncano’s signing, the board decided to re-evaluate a smaller proposal, which went from the three-year contract to one. This Tuesday, a different offer was scheduled to be debated, for two years, although it could be canceled at the end of the first year if it did not reach 7.5% audience share.
It was not the only point of the day, since the possibility of hiring ‘That’s my jam’, the LACOproductora program with Arturo Valls that until now was broadcast on Movistar Plus+. But the dismissal of the content director and the president herself has caused everything to blow up.