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Madrid

Updated Thursday, March 14, 2024-9:50 p.m.

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  • Exclusive RTVE finalizes the signing of David Broncano and his Resistencia to compete against El Hormiguero

The signing of

David Broncano

and his

Resistencia

, which should have been one of the biggest goals scored by public television for next season, has ended up becoming

a real headache for RTVE

and, even worse , has uncovered "the war without quarter", as public television sources describe it, which

Elena Sánchez

, interim president of the public entity, has been maintaining for months, with a good part of the senior management and the majority of the Board of Directors.

This "war without quarter" is not from now.

In fact, it has been brewing and heating up feelings at RTVE for a long time.

However, it has been the possible and almost signing of

David Broncano

that has taken the confrontation between its management and presidency out of the corridors of the public entity, which became absolutely visible this Tuesday when, as reported by

VerTele

and confirmed by this newspaper, the general content directors,

José Pablo López

;

Informative content,

Josep Vilar;

Production and media,

José Luis Muñiz

;

Education, Cultural and International Diversity,

Ignacio Elguero

;

and the Corporate Director (appointed by the SEPI),

Marta Torralvo

, joined together to confront Elena Sánchez, accusing her of "betrayal" for not having carried out the signing of Broncano in the Extraordinary Council held the day before.

Only the director of the Presidential Cabinet,

Verónica Ollé,

attended the meeting .

Television

The resistance.

RTVE paralyzes the signing of Broncano to renegotiate the contract: the public entity does not want to mortgage itself for 3 years for 42 million

  • Editorial: ESTHER MUCIENTES Madrid

RTVE paralyzes the signing of Broncano to renegotiate the contract: the public entity does not want to mortgage itself for 3 years for 42 million

Until reaching this Tuesday's rudeness, it is important to know the background of the signing of the presenter and

La Resistencia

, but also the tensions that have been generated and increased since the arrival of

Sánchez

as interim president of RTVE in 2022 after the resignation of

José Manuel Pérez Tornero

, the until then president of the Corporation, who had the support of a good part of the Council and a good part of the senior management of his time.

A support that Elena Sánchez has never counted on, with some exceptions.

Last week EL MUNDO gave the exclusive news that RTVE was finalizing the signing of

David Broncano

and the program produced by

El Terrat

(now from Mediapro).

The agreement was practically closed in the absence of approval from the Board of Directors, which many considered to be assured.

In fact, they were so sure of it at the top of the public channel that late on Friday, the interim president called an Extraordinary Council to approve it, although different sources indicate that the call responded to pressure from the Content Directorate to close the signing as soon as possible.

The agreement with

Broncano

, which had been in preparation for a long time - exactly since Mediaset closed negotiations with El Terrat after not being able to accept the signing of three seasons - was presented and unanimously approved last week by the

Audiovisual Purchasing Committee. of the Public Corporation

.

It included the signing of

three seasons for

La 1's

access time

for a total of

more than 42 million

euros -

14.07 million per season

-, the attempt to take over the

La Resistencia

brand , which currently belongs to

Movistar Plus+

, as well as the insurance that if the program did not reach the cut-off

share

established by contract, the network could transfer it to another slot, but always for the same cost as if it were broadcast in

access

.

In addition, there was the possibility of reducing the broadcast time of

Telediario 2

, since by agreeing to programs of between 70 and 80 minutes from Monday to Thursday, La 1 did not want its

prime time

to go beyond 11:15 p.m.

This was already attempted a long time ago, causing the rejection of the management of Informativos, since the last 15 minutes of the

Newscast

"attract a considerable number of viewers."

According to some RTVE sources, when the

Audiovisual Purchasing Committee

presented the agreement reached with

El Terrat

and

Broncano

, it verbally gave its approval.

Hence, after what happened at the Extraordinary Council on Monday, when it was decided to postpone the vote on the signing until next week, a part of the senior management took it as "a betrayal."

The intention is to take advantage of these days to negotiate that the contract be signed for one season, "or even for two, but no more."

However, other sources from the public channel describe the Council's decision as "logical" and affirm that the interim president was never very in favor of signing three seasons, since a clause of these characteristics has rarely been made in RTVE when assuming "a mortgage" for the entity in the event that the program does not work.

To this we must add that the interim presidency of

Elena Sánchez

ends in the coming weeks, as does the legal mandate of the Board of Directors.

That is to say, according to these sources,

Elena Sánchez

did not welcome signing a contract for three seasons when

the Council is an outgoing Council

and it is not known whether she will continue or not, because if the program does not work it is "a problem." that leaves those who come.

Despite everything, last Friday the presidency decided to convene an Extraordinary Council with a single point:

the signing of Broncano

.

Although in these two years Sánchez has had to face very tense Councils, on Monday he was "one of the harshest" in memory.

There was no vote, but the interim president did make visible her reluctance to sign for three years.

In fact, as sources close to the negotiation have revealed to EL MUNDO, Elena Sánchez

was even requested to

sign

a letter of commitment

to the pre-agreement, to which the interim president refused, again, due to the fact of signing three seasons and because "There are reasonable doubts that

La Resistencia

can operate on La 1

access

, where the target audience is over 65 years old and from younger populations."

In fact, as this newspaper has been able to verify from three RTVE sources, the refusal to accept the conditions of the pre-agreement was raised by

Elena Sánchez herself.

A refusal that was also expressed by one of the Podemos

councilors

and the

three PP councilors.

Sources close to the agreement assure this newspaper that Sánchez announced at the beginning of the meeting his intention to abstain from the current proposal.

If the vote had finally taken place and Sánchez had abstained, along with the vote against

Roberto Lakidain

, Podemos advisor, and those of the PP, there would have been no quorum, meaning the signing would have been buried almost forever.

So they chose to postpone the decision to the next Ordinary Council - it will be held next week - and take advantage of these days to renegotiate the contract with

El Terrat

, considering that signing for three seasons is "unviable."

Furthermore, the decision to bring the agreement with

Broncano

and

El Terrat

practically closed without having first consulted the Council, was also not liked in their ranks.

The next day,

Elena Sánchez

had called the senior management of the public channel at 12:30 p.m., but all the senior managers - except Ollé - agreed to sit her down in an attempt to make their union visible against what they consider

"betrayal." of the president regarding the signing of Broncano

.

The objective was to make clear to the outside something that

from the inside "has been known for months"

: the lack of confidence in Sánchez.

Despite this attempt to show the discontent of senior management, RTVE sources assure that in the meetings of the Management Committee "nothing is decided" but rather serves to put issues on the table and debate.

"Decisions are made in the individual office of each manager with the president

," they say, adding that "each one has different interests, but

they are all united by the same thing: the animosity towards Elena Sánchez

."

It must be remembered that Elena Sánchez asked two of those senior managers for her resignation months ago.

The summary is that it will have to be next week's Ordinary Council, which still does not have a convocation date, that will finally decide if

Broncano

becomes once and for all the star signing of the next season of La 1 or

if The internal war that is being experienced in RTVE ends the aspirations of a good part of the entity's senior management

.

What all the sources consulted do agree on is that what happened with Broncano

"is another example of the chaos that exists on TVE

. "