The director of the National Audiovisual Communication Service (SECAN), Gerardo Sotelo, says he is still a member of the Independent Party, but with a relationship “distant”. Although he sees the position he holds as a “very political” one, he believes that it should be administered “outside party connotations” and “independently, in some cases contrary to party interests,” as he stated in an interview with the daily The country posted this weekend.
Upon reaching SECAN, he ordered the termination of 40 contracts, arguing that the rating was “terrible”, and sought out “new” people for his vision of what public media should be. “That was a very tough but very necessary decision,” he says, and believes that this allows them to be an organization much more similar “to the characteristics of this industry and the demands of the public.”
However, despite their version of what public media should be, they are finding it “very difficult to achieve a substantial improvement in rating” and Channel 5 (previously called TNU, and which Sotelo ordered to change its name) is the least watched of the television channels in the country.
According to a report from mid-September by the consulting firm Kantar IBOPE Media, in the top 10 of the most watched programs in Montevideo and the metropolitan area there is none made by public television. The 1st place at that time was Got Talent Uruguay, followed by Amamos el Talento. In third place was the news Underlinedfollowed by Ahora Caigo, Mujer and Underlined Special Edition, all of these contents owned by Channel 10. (Kantar IBOPE Media. MW Telereport: Mon to Fri 12 to 24hs (Week 32). People 4+. Region: Montevideo (Urban). Universe: 1,227,238. Households: 480,460).
“We did very well with the Olympic Games, but it is still very difficult for us to improve in audiences,” adds Sotelo. “Everything we do points to that, and in many times we improve significantly, but the audience levels are not satisfactory at all, and there are going to be changes in key times to shore up the prime time”, he added.
TV Ciudad sets the pace
The low numbers are not new: in May it reported the lowest ratings on Uruguayan television, according to data revealed by consultants. And two years ago, in July 2020, the interview and political dialogue program, La Letra Chica, from TV Cityeven beat Channel 4 with a special program on Operation Ocean: it averaged 7.2 percentage points in households at that time, as revealed Kantar IBOPE Media.
Ahead of Channel 5 get moving TV City, which is better positioned in the consumption preference of viewers. According to its director, Alejandra Casablanca, the media “it has no editorial line”, and that is one of the reasons why it is the fourth most watched in the country, surpassed by three private channels.
“I am not going to go into stories of polarization that do not correspond to me. Politicians will know what they do and what they say. TV Ciudad workers have complete freedom to ask questions and do their job well. I’m not going to go in,” said Casablanca after the controversial situation caused by the secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado, who rebuked a journalist from TV City questioning her that “they send her” to ask questions.
70% of the content of this Montevideo medium is related to culture and other areas of society, says Casablanca, and remarks that the only political position is his.
