David Broncano and RTVE’s signature program Resistance reached the Joint Committee on Parliamentary Control (Congress-Senate) after months of debate. In a recent session, RTVE’s Interim President Cascajosa defended the inclusion of the popular comedian, framing the decision as more than a mere strategic move and emphasizing its alignment with the network’s broader goals for entertainment and audience engagement.
“We believe reinvesting in entertainment and humor matters because it delivers value to Spanish audiences and provides content they can enjoy. This is the core reason for selecting this format, and I reiterate that it is 7% cheaper than our current offer”, Cascajosa stated during the appearance, underscoring the fiscal and cultural rationale behind the procurement.
In response to a question from a People’s Party senator, Miriam Bravo, who had accused the arrangement of constituting a large expenditure aimed at political influence, Cascajosa clarified the stance. He noted that extraordinary spending of 28 million euros to compete for political reasons had drawn scrutiny and that ruling parties had expressed reservations about a private channel’s program being featured on RTVE’s platforms.
“If competition exists, it should be met with a competitive offer”, the interim president asserted, highlighting that the selected format would occupy a prime-time slot during a peak viewing window. He stressed that the proposal aligns with RTVE’s strategy to maximize audience reach during the most watched hours of the day.
To put the discussion in context, the board of RTVE had already signaled—earlier this year—that the contract includes a lineup of 320 programs (160 per season), with a schedule set to begin after the Telediario 2 newscast. The launch is planned for September, positioning Resistance as a major acquisition that could rival enduring entertainment staples on the network and challenge existing market leaders like El Hormiguero on Antena 3.
From a financial perspective, the deal contemplates a total investment exceeding 14 million euros for each season of Resistance, translating to approximately 88,000 euros per episode. The figures reflect the perceived value of a high-profile format in the prime-time window and the ongoing negotiation about the relative cost of securing top-tier content for RTVE’s audience. These numbers contrast with the roughly 20,000-euro difference observed in other programs of a similar scale on the network, according to industry reporting, and they reflect strategic choices about programming mix and audience incentives across the public broadcaster’s schedule. (Vertele, internal assessment, 2024)