Famed TV figure David Broncano, paired with TVE, was set to headline the upcoming season as the anticipated clash with the network’s power center loomed. The saga about the show Resistance and its host Pablo Motos sparked a wider discourse within RTVE, particularly involving Elena Sánchez and the content chief, José Pablo López, as tensions grew behind closed doors. The situation has been brewing for some time, and the public airing of the resistance project only amplified the rift between executive leadership and creative teams. Sources close to the matter indicated to El Periódico de Catalunya, part of the Prensa Ibérica group, that the government might even consider dismissing the interim head of RTVE, a role filled for about a year and a half, following an unexpected resignation by José Manuel Pérez Tornero. (El Periódico de Catalunya, Prensa Ibérica)
Earthquake after the meeting
Whether Broncano will be signed on or not would be decided at the next board meeting. The discussion centered on finalizing an agreement to terminate the contract with the producer behind The Resistance, a collaboration among Mediapro and Encofrados Encofrasa, with El Terrat, and this was tackled in the wake of a political upheaval that affected Movistar Plus+ plans for the following July. (El Periódico de Catalunya, Prensa Ibérica)
The show, which earned Ondas in 2019 and is known for its irreverent style and candid conversations about sex and money, was positioned as TVE’s bold move to revive the prime time access slot between Telediario and the main evening programs. The objective was to attract a younger audience, a group for whom Broncano’s interviews commonly go viral on social networks, thereby boosting the channel’s broad appeal.
Its direct rival in that time slot would be El Hormiguero, a program that has long dominated the hour and had previously overtaken another daytime TV heavyweight, Jorge Javier Vázquez’s Chinese Tales on Telecinco.
Three years and 14 million per season
The extraordinary council proposal was to recruit Broncano’s character for a three-year run costing 14 million euros. The vote, however, ended in a tie with four in favor and four against. The president cast the deciding vote, shifting from abstention to a negative result, which reflected senior management’s discomfort but ultimately sealed the arrangement. (El Periódico de Catalunya, Prensa Ibérica)
The discussion suggested that the terms could be adjusted, as sources noted the relationship between the president and managers had already become tense. A three-year contract with a single performer could imply lower annual costs, pending the board’s final decision at the subsequent meeting. The date in question was March 26, when the decision would reveal which side gained the upper hand in the TVE leadership dispute and whether viewers would see a new season of a program that has become highly popular on free-to-air platforms and controversial for its provocative style on a public channel. The dynamic resembled a civil conflict within the broadcaster, with Broncano’s brand of humor and daring questions often pushing boundaries in front of a wide audience.
For instance, Broncano recently teased with provocative humor, joking about topics like money and intimate matters in conversations with guests, a tone that some feared might be unsuitable for La 1. The scene underscores the ongoing tension between creative freedom and public broadcasting standards, a balance RTVE has continually navigated while trying to captivate multiple generations of viewers.