The plan was claimed more than 10 years ago and was reduced from R$100 million to R$30 million after an internal review by the state-owned company; company pays up to R$100,000 to presenters
A (Brazilian Communication Company) approved in February a job and remuneration plan valued at just over R$30 million – less than a third of the original proposal, which was presented with an estimated cost of R$100 million. The information comes from CEO André Basbaum, in an interview with Poder360.
According to Basbaum, the cut was necessary to obtain approval from the State Secretariat. “The category understood that we needed to reach a good agreement, to the point where it would fit within the budget”he stated. The plan had been blocked for around 14 years due to internal impasses and successive frustrated attempts at reformulation.
Watch the full interview held at the Poder360 studio in Brasília (44min44s):
The reduction of the original proposal reflects, in the assessment of management members, the difficulty of making structural readjustments compatible with the state-owned company’s fiscal limit. The initial version faced resistance precisely because of the impact on public accounts, which led to a redesign negotiated with employees.
Basbaum said that EBC has around 400 journalists and may be the company with the most professionals in the field in Brazil. For him, professional journalism is “a tool of democracy” and your presence on the grid is non-negotiable.
TV Brasil’s biggest contracts today are those of presenters José Luiz Datena and Cissa Guimarães, both paid around R$100,000 per month via a legal entity. “They are two stars of the company. There will be no one who will earn more than that”said Basbaum, when arguing that the values are justified by the image return and the capacity for digital repercussion.
According to him, the logic of these contracts is less about the traditional schedule and more about the amplification of content on digital platforms, where cuts of interviews and programs gain circulation on networks such as YouTube and Instagram.
BUDGETARY ISSUES
EBC operates with a high budget, but with low execution flexibility. indicate an allocation of around R$1.18 billion, with a significant part subject to contingencies throughout the year.
Despite this, the company remains heavily dependent on resources from the Union Budget, which limits its investment capacity and makes it sensitive to the federal government’s fiscal cycle.
In this environment, the current management also revisits previous decisions. In an attempt to increase revenue and reduce budget dependence, EBC negotiates a credit line with the (New Development Bank), the BRICS Bank.
The proposal was presented by Basbaum to former president Dilma Rousseff, current head of the financial institution, on a trip to China. The bank’s headquarters are in Shanghai. According to him, the conversation was well received, but it still depends on approval from the Brazilian government and regulatory changes – among them, the attempt to classify EBC as an ICT (Scientific and Technological Institution), which would ease financing restrictions and budget execution.
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