“It’s frozen with inflation. It actually means it’s cut. Let’s be clear.”
Christophe Chantraine, Director Digital Platforms, RTBF
I closed SME Live 2026 with four of Europe’s public broadcasters on stage: Serge Schick from France Médias Monde, Lieven Vermaele from VRT, Christophe Chantraine from RTBF and Bastiaan Toering from NPO, for a session called “Capped, frozen and still expected to deliver” and all four recognised themselves in it.
Public service media reach 81% of Europeans every week (on stage Serge Schick puts the figure for 15 to 24 year olds close to 70%), at an average of €3.6 a month per citizen and that funding has fallen 9% in real terms over a decade. RTBF has to find €132 million in savings by 2028. NPO is closing four channels, with deeper cuts landing in 2027 and a reform of the whole system on the way.
The pressure is political too. In France, a parliamentary commission of inquiry spent six months on the "neutrality, functioning and financing" of public broadcasting. This week Delphine Ernotte Cunci said France Télévisions has to find €90 million in savings in 2027, €47 million of it from a cut in state funding. I'd expect that in some markets, less so in one of Europe's big five. Serge's read, in his words: "It's not only a matter of money. It's also a matter of ideology." He points to a country with no public deficit to close where the budget is being cut anyway.
They're asked to reach younger audiences on every platform, on budgets frozen at best, while politicians question what they're for. So I asked them how they're handling it: what each of them has already stopped (a radio station, football rights, apps), NPO Plus's decade as a paid subscription, Wolven with Disney+, four different YouTube strategies and the one thing each would steal from someone else in the public media sector.
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That’s it for today but before you go:
🗓️ Mark your calendars
Streaming Made Easy Live Amsterdam will be back on Sept. 9th, 2027. Until then, we’ll take this show to Lisbon in partnership with Stream TV Europe (taking place on April 20-22nd, 2027) and to Paris (more details to come).
