RTV to get more funds for ethnic minority programmes

A document the STA obtained meanwhile shows that, in line with its contract with the Government Office for National Minorities, RTV Slovenija received EUR 2.1 million this year, while the costs of the minority programmes for the year were planned at EUR 11.6 million.

The Office for National Minorities is in charge of implementing legislation related to the Italian and Hungarian ethnic minorities and the Roma community.

RTV Slovenija has been in a difficult financial situation for years, as the licence fee - the main source of funding - has not changed for years.

As the broadcaster plans to end 2023 with a EUR 10.5 million loss, the management is seeking ways to cut costs, with several potential drastic measures being mentioned, such as the abolishment of certain shows, of the entire music production and the regional Koper and Maribor units.

Last week, the governing council tasked the management board to assess the financial implications each of the considered measures.

UKOM said today that the government expects the leadership to take a proactive approach to resolving the situation.

It explained that, due to the financial situation of the broadcaster, representatives of the finance and culture ministries had met with the management board several times.

It was decided based on these meetings that "the government will provide additional funding for this year and next to finance programmes for ethnic minorities, thereby increasing state funding".

UKOM also said that RTV Slovenija's long-standing crisis could not be resolved by individual emergency measures alone, which is why the government expects "the management of the institution to take an active approach to resolving the current situation and find an appropriate way to enable the functioning of RTV as a modern media service".