Romania’s cash-strapped public broadcaster, TVR, is to cut 698 jobs, or 20% of its workforce, starting from February, to help the company cut costs and re-balance its finances, writes Marian Chiriac on Balkan Insight.
“We have organised a clear and balanced professional selection procedure to find out which jobs should be cut. Our main aim is to reorganise TVR’s general activity and reduce costs as much as possible,” the management said.
In a related development, the government recently decided to help TVR deal with its debt of €65 million by re-scheduling its fiscal payments over the next seven years. The broadcaster recently closed two of its TV channels, TVR Info and TVR Cultural.
Around 70% of the TVR’s revenue comes from publicity, transmission fees and TV licences paid for by users. The rest of the money comes from the state budget, which makes it dependent on the generosity of the ruling parties.
TVR started in 1956 and is the short name for Societatea Român de Televiziune (Romanian Television Corporation or SRTV). It operates six channels: TVR1, TVR2, TVR3, TVR Cultural, TVR Info, TVRi and TVR HD, along with six regional studios in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iai, Timisoara, Craiova and Târgu Mure.
