Romania's public television could enter insolvency

The Romanian public television could start the insolvency procedure in one month. The political decision has already been made, according to government sources cited by local Hotnews.ro. Insolvency is inevitable, as the television’s financial problems have brought it into default. The insolvency law doesn’t need any changes as the law applies to all professionals and the exceptions don’t include the public television. However, the Ministry of Finance and the Parliament have discussed some changes to the law on the national television’s functioning that would allow the board to decide TVR’s entry into insolvency, exclusively for reorganization purposes. So bankruptcy is out of the question. TVR posted losses of EUR 154.5 million in 2015, according to TVR interim director Irina Radu. Last year, some 20% of the company’s expenses went to pay debts. Only 5.4% were spent on TV shows and licenses. If the public television paid all its debts in five years, the company would be left with only 350-400 employees, compared to 2,500 now, Radu added. editor@romania-insider.com