The RTVE Council approves the signing of Broncano with a new absence of Elena Sánchez

The contract includes two seasons for 28 million euros

The Board of Directors of RTVE approved this Wednesday, April 10, the signing of the comedian and presenter of 'La Resistencia' David Broncano with a program for the 'access prime time' slot of La 1 de TVE, with four votes in favor, three against and one abstention, as sources from the governing body have confirmed to Europa Press.

The aforementioned sources have specified that, in the face of the new absence of counselor Elena Sánchez, the proposal has gone ahead thanks to the four votes in favor of the interim president, Concepción Cascajosa, and the counselors Ramón Colom, Roberto Lakidain and Juan José Baños, and despite the rejection of the members endorsed by the PP (Carmen Sastre, Jenaro Castro and Consuelo Aparicio) and the abstention of José Manuel Martín Medem, sponsored by Podemos and IU. The absence of the ninth director - Elena Sánchez - has left a Board of Directors made up of eight members and Cascajosa has used her casting vote to resolve the tie.

In this way, the governing body of the Public Corporation has authorized the contracting of a program presented by David Broncano from Jaén, for two full seasons, at a rate of 14 million euros each, 28 million in total. In the second season, the conditions could be renegotiated if the space does not reach the 7.5% screen share, as detailed by Council sources.

Thus, the RTVE Board has given the green light to David Broncano's contract, after last week the interim president removed the debate and vote on this matter from the agenda, considering that he would not obtain the necessary support to carry out the proposal. forward. Last Thursday, the advisor and former president of the Board of Directors of RTVE Elena also did not attend the meeting for medical reasons.

This Wednesday, Elena Sánchez was absent from the extraordinary meeting again. Sources from the Board of Directors, consulted by Europa Press, have specified that Sánchez was not there and "argues that he is low." At the meeting, called at 11:15 a.m. by Concepción Cascajosa, the directors attended either physically or electronically, as Council sources have informed Europa Press.

Likewise, the meeting of the RTVE governing body last week was marked by the absence of the former interim president Elena Sánchez, for medical reasons. This circumstance meant that Cascajosa only had four votes (his, Ramón Colom's, Roberto Lakidain's and Juan José Baños's), since the three PP councilors have opposed the hiring of Broncano from the beginning and José Manuel Martín Medem announced his abstention.

Martín Medem had warned that he would only vote in favor if the contract was for one year, with an audience at least equal to the network's average and, above all, if the program was made in co-production, that is, using the media TVE technicians and professionals. This Wednesday the counselor has chosen to abstain.

LEGAL INSECURITY IN THE PROCEDURE

At the conclusion of last week's meeting, RTVE reported that the RTVE Board of Directors had postponed the decision on "the contracting of the audiovisual projects that were on the agenda, along with other matters." The meeting was suspended by decision of Cascajosa, "who appealed to the legal uncertainty in the pending decision-making procedure."

The last few weeks have been marked by the debate generated around the signing of David Broncano with a new program for the 'access prime time' slot, and the tensions derived from it, which ended with the dismissal of the Content Director José Pablo López and the dismissal of the then president Elena Sánchez in a Board of Directors meeting held on March 26, in the middle of Holy Week.

On March 11, almost a month ago, the RTVE directors already decided to postpone the vote on the hiring of the presenter of 'La Resistencia' in an extraordinary Board of Directors, given the doubts about the viability of a contract that involved payment of 42 million euros for three seasons plus VAT (14 million euros per year), from September 2024 to July 2027. The majority of the Board of Directors rejected the contract proposed by the Content Directorate led by José Pablo López.

'La Resistencia' is a production by El Terrat (The Mediapro Studio) for Movistar. From the Príncipe Gran Vía Theater in Madrid, it offers a comedy show with a live audience, and interviews with personalities from different fields. David Broncano co-directs and presents this 'late night' from Monday to Thursday, at 11:30 p.m.