The controversy over the outsourcing model of the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (CCMA) has reached the Control Commission in Parliament this morning with several questions related to that issue. The fact that three out of every four hours of CatRàdio are externally produced and that 17 out of every 24 hours (Monday to Friday) are also produced, as reported by the radio works council, caused some explanations to be demanded.
The president of the CCMA, Rosa Romà, has defended herself by arguing that these proportions between hours of external and internal production “are not entirely precise because we do not have just one media but four: CatRàdio, iCat, Catalunya Informació and Catalunya Música. If we look at the broadcast hours of our schedule, in reality we are at 81.10% of hours carried out by our own personnel and 18.90% with external personnel.”
Romà has recognized that “we have great voices, perhaps they are the most recognizable, which are within these external hours but it has also been that way historically” and has recalled the cases of Mònica Terribas, Antoni Bassas and Manel Fuentes.
Also the cost of 1.9 million euros for the season of El matí de Catalunya Ràdio, directed and presented by Ricard Ustrell with his production company La Manchester, has also appeared in the commission. The representative of the Mixed Group, Lorena Roldán, has asked for explanations as to why last year, with Laura Rosel, the space cost 180,000 euros and this season it had multiplied by ten. The director of the station, Jordi Borda, has assured that “those 180,000 euros are not the cost of the program but that of its director and deputy director; “The real cost of the program exceeded two million euros.”
Rosa Romà, who has insisted that the cost of Catalan public media is below the European average, wanted to highlight that the central axis of the media, the information services, “are produced with internal resources” but that “at the same time At the same time, we also have a framework mandate that establishes that the public system has to favor and be the driving force of the Catalan audiovisual industry and therefore the outsourcing model that we have is the one that we want to continue.”
On the other hand, Romà has also announced today in the control committee that 3Cat will reopen the delegation in Perpignan (France) in the coming months and will also reinforce those in the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, which will become a delegation and will double the number. of troops that currently exist.
Thus, 3Cat will once again have a delegate in Perpignan “after 10 years without a fixed team there” and Romà added that this is a long-awaited reopening, and that it will also mean recovering the Castellet de Perpignan camera to complement the meteorological information.
