Romanian public television sees profit in the first half

Romanian public television TVR managed to cut its expenses by EUR 3.8 million in the first half of the year compared to the budget approved at the beginning of the year. The company posted a profit in this period, according to a TVR press release, cited by local Wall-street.ro. The public television laid off employees, cut production costs and renegotiated several commercial contracts. At the end of July, TVR already closed the TVR news channel. The company’s revenues, however, dropped by 2.3%, namely EUR 722,000 in the first half of the year. The public television can’t remedy its disastrous financial situation only through its own efforts, but needs the support of the Government, President and Parliament, said Stelian Tanase, TVR’s general director. In July, Romania’s Tax Authority ANAF blocked TVR’s accounts, because of the high level of debt TVR had to pay to the state budget. The public television had almost EUR 160 million of debt at the end of 2014, some EUR 100 million of which was to the state budget. TVR had revenues of EUR 122 million and EUR 18 million losses in 2014. editor@romannia-insider.com