Union concern over CyBC cutback plan

CYBC’S SENIOR managers’ union yesterday claimed the scrapping of one television and one radio channel would be catastrophic for television in Cyprus.

The union was responding to a leaked report in Alithia newspaper on Monday saying that the Interior Ministry was considering whether to rid the CyBC of one TV and radio channel in order to cut the corporation’s overspending.

The ministry is pondering the unthinkable in an effort to reduce the corporation’s £1 million plus deficit.

The suggestion to chop the TV and radio channels, or the alternative of restricting programme transmissions, has been put before a ministerial committee.

CyBC’s 1998 budget, which has been submitted to the Council of Ministers, forecasts various scenarios with a deficit hovering between one and two million pounds, a figure the government is not prepared to accept.

It is understood that CyBC has been told to balance its books or face painful cost-cutting.

The managers’ union has directed a public appeal to the government, the House of Representatives and all political parties “to support the corporation and to assist in the attempt to reduce CyBC’s expenses and reorganise the corporation in order to maintain its dynamic presence within the political, social and cultural life of Cyprus.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.