Public Television Pain / Slovakia

Michael Hedges November 24, 2005

Public service television in the new Member States struggles still with painful transition. Inheriting bloated operations in place since - and protected by - previous regimes many attempted to leave State broadcasting behind but not the structures. Slovak Television (SVT) had a different set of challenges. It didn’t exist before 1993.

After Czechoslovakia “separated” into two countries – the Slovak and Czech Republics – Slovakia needed every possible law, rule and structure to establish public television and radio. That done, councils created and directors appointed, Slovak Television launched two channels and tried to live in compliance with Television Without Frontiers (TVFW). Within three years it was weaned from the State budget, financing now a balance of license fees (90%) and advertising (10%).

Commercial television entered Slovakia in 1996, a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) deal with Central European Media Enterprises (CME). The rising tide (of media) did not lift all boats. Slovak Television was nearly sunk, heavily in debt.

Two years ago a new general director, Richard Rybnicek, was hired away from a commercial television channel, replacing a general director who’s last act was giving dozens of senior managers “generous golden parachutes.” Rybnicek annulled those, dumped the supervisory board, formed a “crisis team,” and cancelled programs.

Then he fired 60% of the staff. Needless to say, some of the remaining 960 employees “don’t feel safe.”

Today STV still struggles, but struggles less. License fee revenue suffers from low public compliance. Maintaining, much less developing ad revenue means providing competitive programming. In the midst, STV has the usual and customary public service obligations. Rybnicek's reforms are credited for saving Slovak public television.

Competition “cannot be ignored,” said one SVT spokesperson. And the “obligations create competitive disadvantage.”

SVT’s problems – not unlike those at other PSBs in the new Member States – seem insurmountable with all the pressures to pull the broadcaster up to European public TV standards. Everyone familiar with them understands completely, through their own prism. Unfortunately for SVT – and Slovak television viewers – hesitating to find solutions only increases the pain.

"Slovakia is the only one of the post-communist European countries that is carrying out progressive reforms in public television," reported the EUMAP survey of European media.

Editors note: Michael Hedges traveled through the new EU Member States in 2005 and 2006 surveying the audiovisual sector for European Commission Social Dialogue committee. The reports for ftm are his own observations and do not reflect the positions of the European Commission or any of the members of the Social Dialogue committee.

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