That it would be privatized, that it would change its name, that there would be massive layoffs, that the Public TV building would be sold to build a shopping center… None of that happened despite the chainsaw fantasies expressed by Javier Milei‘s government in its beginnings.
In this new line of fine surgery, the Media Secretariat headed by Javier Lanari promoted voluntary retirements to reduce a plant that, it must be said, surpasses any competitive audiovisual scheme. According to some data, There are 400 employees who made inquiries about the withdrawal, among which, 273 are in advanced negotiation. “The idea is to reduce 10 percent of the plant in the next eight months,” confirmed a source close to the negotiations regarding the 2,400 people who work in the State media complex: Public Television, National Radio – with a federal network of 57 transmission points distributed throughout the country – and Argentine Radio Abroad (RAE). It also includes SE Public Contents -Paka Paka, DeporTV and Anilla Cultural-.
When withdrawals began to be offered, interest was very limited. It turns out that the plan did not contemplate any calculation on overtime – still in force on Public TV – and benefits of each union framework, as they commented. The Ministry of Deregulation and Transformation of the State, headed by Federico Sturzenegger, finally had to make some adjustments to the initial project to make it more attractive. The general staff includes very senior staff who, in any case, still prefer to keep their jobs. “Imagine that we have a 60-year-old person on the channel and he doesn’t want to leave either,” they expressed..
The large media structure still continues to function with the exception of Télam, which ended up closing as an information agency. What remained continues as an administrative and advertising unit at the service of different state agencies. Strikingly, there are still 200 “residual” people from the exTélam, who do not carry out tasks while awaiting a resolution of their situation. “We also don’t want to give them responsibilities,” clarified an internal source.
Regarding the threat of the massive chainsaw, the Milei administration began to talk about “organizing and making management efficient, without investment, but with a decent display.” The reason, in cold terms, is simple: the chainsaw would represent many millions of pesos in compensation that today, March 2026, the Government would not have among its priorities. Furthermore, in the case of television there is an unfavorable context for private parties interested in keeping an air channel of that magnitude to appear. In addition, a possible privatization of state TV would require approval in Congress with the votes of two-thirds of the legislators.
The state screen currently displays a proportion divided into three thirds: news programs (which were reactivated after the intervention in February 2024), co-productions with private parties and own content (mostly repetitions). The program with the highest rating (0.3 points) is that of Carlos Monti, Midday well upa space dedicated to gossip about the show that, despite some rumors, was confirmed for 2026.
In private co-productions, Public TV provides the “hardware”: facilities, studios, camera service, but does not invest in paying the artistic figures. At first, when there was talk of “loting the screen,” a source commented, there were many private interested parties who later gave up when they discovered that most of the costs would be borne by them and not by the channel.
In recent days the name of journalist Marcelo Grandio, linked to the production company Imhouse, came to the center of the scene. Grandio is a communicator with some experience in the media (international networks) who resides in Punta del Este and who traveled on one of the controversial private flights with the Chief of Staff, Manuel Adorni, with whom he maintains a close relationship. Until last year he had a program on Public TV – which was lifted – and until today he hosted a cycle on the official streaming channel. “He is not an employee of the channel nor does he receive a salary, his production company is included in the general co-production of the rest,” they clarified from within the channel.
The old discussions about the role of the State media, the low ratings, the quality of the content, etc., are in the past. In times of audience migration to digital media, the “boba box” and what happens within it lost interest.
“Work is being done internally to change the current name, which even those who have been there before do not like,” said a source regarding Public TV. However, there are no deadlines and, due to budgetary reasons, the design was left in the hands of the Public TV offices, without the intervention of an external supplier as is usually applied in cases of large metamorphoses of logos and brand names. “Our priority is to put the structure, the organization chart and the contracts in order” they insist on reiterating, although the name Canal 7 Argentina TV had begun to sound. The thing is that below the surface, the hot potato of public media has jumped out of hand in the last year: from the Dadaist inventiveness of Santiago Caputo to the political pragmatism of Karina Milei.
In line with a policy of cuts and centralization in public media, started in December 2023 with Héctor Cavallero, one of the measures that attracted the most attention was the requirement that the more than 50 stations in the interior of the country of Radio Nacional replicate the programming of the central signal of Buenos Aires. At the time it provoked criticism, because it supposedly meant canceling local content from state radio. In perspective, as pointed out by the current administration, centralization arose because Radio Nacional not only coexisted with provincial and municipal (also state) signals, but also ended up promoting the emergence of SMEs. “The structure is uncontrollable and many personal ventures – local programs – emerged,” said a source close to the current intervention and, he revealed that the economic results of these programs (advertising guidelines) were for the benefit of Radio Nacional employees. “It is a very large structure that operates 24 hours a day and is very difficult to control,” the source insisted, without ruling out that there are still cases, at unusual hours, in which the centralization measure is not met and where “personal ventures” emerge.
Before this year’s regional festival season, they warned that Public TV would not broadcast those events that had ended up becoming a programming classic during the summer. It was later reported that Public TV had made the decision to cut back on sending technical equipment to all the country’s festivals, although it continued to broadcast the events with a signal financed by local governments. “All the municipalities were desperate for Public TV to broadcast their festival… we are talking about municipal initiatives that are acceptable, but that could not count on Public TV coverage without putting in order the papers on transmission rights, commercial agreements and, in any case, without taking into account the rating for the channel”they explained by pointing out that the coverage by Public TV meant an enormous expense. This summer, the largest festivals, such as Jesús María, could be seen on the state screen. “It made up to two rating points, without measuring the interior, and it was the most watched in the summer,” they stated near the channel’s administration.
A tour of the historic Public TV building, once Channel 7 and ATC, among the most iconic names, is a journey through time. It is still in Tagle and Figueroa Alcorta, it is still huge and looks soulless on the outside, but inside the facilities look neat and active, although without the rhythm of glorious TV. From Rosario Lufrano’s administration there remained, as a key, a museum with old equipment and photos of programs that, hardly, are part of the great history of Argentine television.
