Update:  the report is now available. Additional elements include VAT payment on the licence fee, with the differencein funds for the broadcaster being made up by a government contribution. Eva Hamilton is quoted as saying:

Det principiellt viktigaste och svåraste i den här utredningen är att utredaren föreslår att public service ska få statsstöd utöver tv-licenserna, alltså en blandad finansiering. Statsstöd är någonting som varken Sveriges Radio eller Sveriges Television vill ha därför att det ger ett beroende till politiskt godtycke. Vi vill inte att finansministern kanske ena dagen är sur på ett inslag i Rapport och dagen därpå har att besluta om hur mycket pengar public service ska ha, säger Eva Hamilton, vd för SVT.

The most important and most difficult thing in principle in this report is the committee’’s suggestion that the public service should get state support in addition to the tv–licence – that is, a mixed finance system. State support is something neither Sveriges Radio nor Sveriges Television wants, since it leads to dependence on political approval. We don’t want the finance minister one day to get upset at a piece on ‘Rapport’ and then the next day have to decide on how much money the public service broadcasters should get.

ADNKronos has learned that the PdL is preparing to deposit in the Senate draft legislation to reduce the licence fee for Rai. “Objectively”, said Senator Alessio Butti, member of the parliamentary watchdog commission, “the licence fee is extremely high. But it’s a tax, and as such should be paid. More than abolition, therefore, it’s possible to imagine a reduction, first of all for the less well-off, and, subsequently, more generally”.Il Pdl, a quanto apprende l’ADNKRONOS, si appresta a depositare in Parlamento, al Senato, un disegno di legge per la riduzione del canone di abbonamento Rai. “Oggettivamente -dice il senatore Alessio Butti, componente della commissione di Vigilanza- il canone e’ molto elevato. Ma e’ un’imposta e come tale va pagata. Piu’ che l’abolizione, quindi, e’ possibile immaginare una riduzione, prima per le fasce piu’ deboli e poi, in un secondo momento, generalizzata”.

“Objectively”, the Rai licence fee is not extremely high.

(Or see Rai’s own graphic).

Depuis des semaines, le président de France Télévisions Patrick de Carolis réclame des moyens supplémentaires, pour poursuivre l’évolution technologique du groupe (passage au numérique notamment) et son effort dans la création. Pour augmenter les ressources du groupe, deux options sont envisagées: hausse de la redevance et/ou coupure publicitaire supplémentaire. France Télévisions bénéficie aujourd’hui de près de 20% du total des ressources de la publicité télévisée, contre 55% pour TF1.

A 116,50 euros par an, la redevance en France est bien moindre que chez les voisins allemands et britanniques par exemple. Mais le président Nicolas Sarkozy ne souhaite pas “une augmentation des prélèvements obligatoires”, rappelait mercredi la ministre de la Culture Christine Albanel. “Si l’on touche à la redevance, ce sera à la marge, mais cela peut quand même représenter quelque chose d’intéressant”.

In Italy, the long-awaited AGM to decide the fate of the Treasury’s representative on Rai’s board will now be held on the 8th August. Expect the newspapers to feature much irritated reaction in the lack of any serious August news.

Still on newspapers, the Council of Ministers agreed to changes in the law on press subsidies. The aim, according to Ricardo Levi, is

“affronta nello specifico la situazione per un riordino e ha l’ambizione di dare organizzazione ad una materia che in 60 anni ha avuto solo interventi occasionali: si vuole dare per la prima volta un quadro organizzativo”.

“To get to grips with the situation with the aim of reordering and giving some structure to a subject that, in sixty years, has only had occasional interventions: we now need, for the first time, an organisational framework”.

No-one seems to have wondered whether the press is a fit field for “intervention” , or whether the government should end this scheme altogether. As discussed before, the consequences fit no subsidy justification I’ve heard of.

The headline figure cited by Gentiloni – “uno stanziamento per il triennio 2007-2009 per complessivi 300 milioni per la promozione digitale” [a subvention of 300 million for digital over the three-year period 2007-2009] – sounds good; although not all of that goes to Rai, it’s more than the £200m given to the BBC to help them switch over to digital in a much more geographically dispersed country.

What isn’t good is the way these extra sources of funding are announced. Drip-feeding PSBs extra discretionary funds prevents them from using the money to plan strategically, and makes them more subject to subtle or not-so-subtle government pressure.

This comes after an interview in the Corriere a couple of days ago, where Gentiloni gave his interpretation of the Gasparri law, according to which the Treasury nominates a member of Rai’s administrative council:

Dal mio punto di vista, avrei considerato normale che nel momento in cui cambia il titolare del Tesoro, il rappresentante nel Consiglio avesse rimesso il mandato nelle mani del nuovo ministro: probabilmente Padoa-Schioppa lo avrebbe confermato

From my point of view, I would have considered it normal if the representative in the Council had returned his commission to the Treasury; Padoa-Schioppa would probably have confirmed him in his post

This would be completely the wrong precedent to set for any new system of nominations. The new law on Rai should make clear that a change in the nominating body is not grounds for recalling its nominees.

Il problema e’ che secondo un conteggio ‘interno’ alla Rai, queste modifiche al contratto potrebbero arrivare a costare “oltre 100 milioni di euro all’anno”, senza contare che alcune di queste clausole sarebbero di difficile applicazione per come sono state concepite in Vigilanza

[The problem, according to an 'internal' count, is that these modifications to the contract may cost over euro 100 million per year. Moreover, some of the amendments may be difficult to implement in the fashion required by the committee].

NEWSPAPER VENDOR
What, ‘L’opinione’?

INTERVIEWER
You’ve never heard of it?

NEWSPAPER VENDOR
No, if it’s a newspaper it doesn’t arrive here

INTERVIEW [to EDITOR of L'Opinione]
How many copies do you sell?

ARTURO DIACONALE-EDITOR L’OPINIONE
Our circulation is… limited, let’s say. We’re at about three, four thousand copies.

INTERVIEWER [off-screen]
Three, four thousand copies, and you receive two million euro