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New director swears by tough austerity measures

Eight weeks after the interim director took office, the moment of truth came for the employees of the RBB on Friday.

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New director swears by tough austerity measures

Eight weeks after the interim director took office, the moment of truth came for the employees of the RBB on Friday. At a staff meeting, Katrin Vernau announced that the public broadcaster would have to save a total of 41 million euros by 2024. Otherwise, the institution, which is financed with almost 500 million euros in fees, is threatened with insolvency. A hiring freeze will also apply with immediate effect.

The management's "cash collapse" made the extent of the mismanagement under scandal broadcaster Patricia Schlesinger clear. Since she took office, the reserves of 160 million in 2016 have continued to decrease and at the end of the contribution period were only 4 million - too little to service the company's current payment obligations.

During Schlesinger's tenure, the gap between expenses and earnings of the station, which is endowed with almost 500 million euros in fee money, widened more and more. Vernaus diagnosis: "RBB managed beyond its means." In the eight years from 2017 to 2024, an "additional requirement" of around 437 million euros arose, which could no longer be covered by the income in the medium term.

An internal presentation that RBB CFO Claus Kerkhoff presented to the employees and that is available to WELT shows how carelessly Schlesinger and her top managers dealt with the money of the contributors.

Funds of 73 million expressly earmarked for reserves were even illegally planned this year in the current budget for the contribution period, although the ARD financial supervisory authority KEF had stipulated that the amount be saved to avoid future contribution increases.

The attempt by the ousted director to help the regional broadcaster achieve more glamor and a national presence did not lead to higher viewer numbers for the ARD ratings bottom, but to horrendous additional expenditure.

In the past and current contribution period alone, the expenses for fees and staff rose by 219.6 million euros, for TV documentaries and feature films there was an additional 37.2 million euros. The costs of the “Mittagsmagazin”, which Schlesinger had brought to the RBB in order to produce it more cheaply than the Bayerischer Rundfunk, also exploded. A further 21.3 million euros were due for this.

If Patricia Schlesinger hadn't fallen over a series of affairs in August 2022, ARD would have faced a fiasco. According to the forecast presented by Kerkhoff, the broadcaster would not only have used up all reserves by the end of 2028 without restructuring measures, but would also have gotten into trouble with 174.2 million euros. This is now to be prevented by plan changes and a rigid austerity course.

Here, too, the RBB employees received bad news from the new director on Friday. Because they will feel the upcoming cuts most clearly. Since cuts are not possible for legal reasons in many cost centers – for example in the case of the ever-increasing current pension obligations – the savings will start with personnel and programs. It should be 13.7 million euros in the coming year, and then 27.6 million in 2024. The broadcaster wants to avoid layoffs for operational reasons, but there is now a hiring freeze.

Eight weeks ago, the economist Katrin Vernau, who switched from the position of WDR administrative director to the intendant fire brigade job at rbb, had previously presented the inventory in conversation with journalists and promoted her plan for the future.

The financial imbalance is "a construction site on a major construction site", the broadcaster had "managed beyond its means" for years. She now wants to bring regional competence back to the fore: "The days of castles in the air are over."

The 49-year-old about RBB: "I see the station as a broadcaster for Brandenburg and Berlin, for the people in Brandenburg and Berlin, a piece of home." spend, an ambitious project in view of the currently disastrous market shares. For this there must be "a program response to the changed media usage behavior, we have to rethink the RBB".

Vernau held back criticism of her predecessor. She does not want to participate in the "writing of history", but to look ahead. Claus Kerkhoff, head of the finance department since 2012 and long-time driver of the ex-director, became clearer. He had become "more unhappy in his position from year to year," said Kerkhoff, and "begged the entire management board that something would change." In May he made representations to Schlesinger: "It can't go on like this."

But the boss stuck to her course. Schlesinger also did not want to move away from the sprawling prestige object "digital media house". The new building, which was last estimated at more than 200 million euros, was to be financed 100 percent through bank loans, which would have burdened the broadcasting budget with at least nine million euros a year. Insiders are no longer giving the project a chance, and the decision on this should be announced in December.

The staff at the construction project also criticized Kerkhoff. The chief financial officer not only secured his last annual bonus with delicate cost planning for the digital media company, but also with a concept of bringing the building, which was financed on credit, at the same time as security in the cover pool for old-age provision.

Meanwhile, on Friday, another case of idiosyncratic RBB financial behavior under Schlesinger. According to research by the broadcaster's own investigative team, the former editor-in-chief Christoph Singelnstein, who retired in April 2021, continues to receive the equivalent of his formerly full salary. This was made possible by a consultant contract approved by the director.

In addition to the lifelong annual pension of EUR 100,000 in addition to his statutory pension until March 2023, the journalist is also entitled to a monthly fee of EUR 6,300. Overall, Singelnstein continues to earn around 15,000 euros a month and thus an income that corresponds to the earnings of his active time including bonus premiums. A station spokesman did not want to comment on the numbers, citing a contractual “non-disclosure clause”.

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