The broadcasting fees are not enough, the money was spent on other purposes and there is a risk of insolvency. Now an ARD broadcaster pulls the emergency brake and radically cuts its program.
“The rbb is repositioning itself” says the press release of the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg in flowery words. You stand before a new beginning. In fact, after the scandal surrounding the director Patrizia Schlesinger, who has since been fired, rbb is facing what is probably the most radical program cut in history. The incumbent director Katrin Vernau has now announced the austerity measures that will run through the entire station and expressly also the program. The savings measures amount to around 49 million euros. “The need arose from the mismanagement of the past few years,” says the broadcaster itself.
For example, additional income from the broadcasting fee was not set aside by the end of the current fee period, but flowed into the current budget. By the end of 2024, 41 million euros must now be taken out of the plan. In addition, there are a further 8 million euros, which were intended as a savings target by the former management for 2023 and 2024, but were not backed by any measures. You will notice the consequences in the program.
FRESH TV PROGRAMS ONLY BETWEEN 6 P.M. AND 10 P.M
Because the TV program is radically cut. This is already evident from the fact that the program management alone has revised its expenditure downwards by a total of 21 million euros compared to the previous plan this year and next. Specifically, the TV program is planned to focus on the time between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. “We will continue to maintain the news flagships rbb24 Abendschau and rbb24 Brandenburg aktuell.” But for other productions before 6 p.m. and after 10 p.m., this obviously means the end.
The consequences will become visible through a new program scheme that will apply from 2024. Theme days, “dialogue-oriented programs” and takeovers from the ARD offers should make up a significant proportion here. “In the times after 10 p.m. with fewer viewers, the programming effort is minimized,” says the RBB. In plain language this means: preserves and repetitions.
IMPENDING INSOLVENCY: RBB WITH A SWEEPING BLOW
On the cross-off list are fictional productions, the Warsaw studio (remains under WDR responsibility) and the midday program produced for the ARD main program “Das Erste”. Here, ARD and ZDF, who alternately take responsibility for “MiMa” on a weekly basis, should consider another form of financing. But there are also changes beyond the program: a hiring freeze, positions will not be filled, the peak of the station will be reduced, real estate will be sold, offices will be given up, the staff canteen will be more expensive – a real sweeping blow. “Without our decisive action in the current contribution period, we would be looking into a financial abyss by the end of 2024 at the latest. The ability to pay would no longer be easily ensured,” says Artistic Director Vernau
In addition to rbb24 Digital, the winners of the measures should be the rbb offers in the media library, audio library and on third-party platforms. In the future, rbb wants to produce programs primarily for non-linear use. They also want to increase regional reporting from Brandenburg. The goal: “the journalistic presence in the western part of the federal state [should] be intensified audibly, visibly and noticeably”.
