José Manuel Penalosa, a board member at RTVE and very close to the government, has become an acting president of the public TV group following Leopoldo González-Echenique’s exit, taking effect immediately.

His mandate at RTVE may be temporary, though, as the government plans to appoint a new president after the local and regional elections in May 2015 with the journalist and former news director of TVE, Ernesto Sainz de Buruaga as the most likely candidate to take up the post.

The acting president will have to face a difficult financial situation in the company which employs some 6,500 people. Burdened with debts and in an attempt to cut costs, state-owned group RTVE plans to close down one of its channels, sports service Teledeporte, whose content could be integrated into La 2, the second TVE’s channel or be a part of a streaming service.

Recently,  RTVE already saw some changes in the management team with the appointment of Jose Ramon Diez as new director of its television network TVE. Ramon Diez took over from Ignacio Corrales, who was TVE director for the past two years during which the audience share of main channel La 1 fell from 11.5 per cent to 9.5 per cent.

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