The transformation of Canal Sur, with Juande Mellado: “Without public television, the development of the audiovisual fabric would be non-existent”

Juande Mellado, general director of RTVA, addresses in this interview the latest news from Canal Sur, marked by its digital transformation and the most ambitious technological renewal project in its history.

The public regional television stations of Spain are in a crucial moment. An audiovisual context in constant change, increasingly aggressive due to the muscle of the large private competitors and the consolidation of platforms video on demand, lead all these organizations to consider what their next step. Maintain your work public service is beyond any doubt; The question, rather, turns to how to continue being essential for your audience (the consolidated and the new), thus maintaining its relevance between society.

The Radio and Television of Andalusia (RTVA), Channel On for the immense entirety of the Andalusian public, faced the precipice that indicates a radical change of model in the year 2019. The arrival of Juande Mellado He came to the presidency of the entity at a time when the unsustainability of the model it became evident. Radio and television had to modify its ADN in order to continue being useful, at a time when some you politics They censored the very existence of the environment and society, in the face of the heat of consumption in their mobiles and tablets, looked with nostalgia but without attachment at a television that learned its lines as supporting actor.

Los changes They have not been long in coming. Canal Sur is undertaking a deep digital transformation that encompasses processes, mentalities y technologies. The obsolescence of television was untenable and, therefore, large sums have been invested to update the television. Engineering is not left in racks, controls and cameras, but also reaches unprecedented developments such as CanalSur More, an on-demand consumption platform that aspires, in its ambition, to bring together the entire Andalusian audiovisual heritage. In parallel, new economic models and a focus on proximity information allow you to see sprouts which seems to indicate, at least, that one is walking in a specific address.

On the table, in his today and tomorrow, Canal Sur has dozens of milestones to conquer. Juande Mellado, president of RTVA, allows you to see first-hand the latest achievements of television, which include greater investment in technology of the of the last decades.

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Six axes of transformation

Three years after assuming the general direction of Canal Sur Television and Radio, what assessment do you make of this period?

The balance is notable. The company has experienced a digital transformation and has extended it to all its directions and layers. The second point on which we have worked has been in the area of technological renewal. In 2018, according to a report from the Andalusian Chamber of Accounts, the company was in a obsolescence situation that made was not competitive in a changing and rapidly evolving market. As a result, in three years more than 20 million euros to the technological renewal, which was very necessary both in the territorial centers and in San Juan de Aznalfarache.

The television and radio today it is consumed otherwise. Of nobody sits at home to watch a movie at eleven at night, or to see a informative at eight thirty.

The third objective was to try to make a more appropriate programming to the Andalusia of the 21st century: a supported change, since our audience has grown in the last year. The fourth pillar has involved changing the income policy. Canal Sur needed a plan 360º to generate more income taking into account that we are the main media of audiovisual communication in Andalusia.

Aside from these bets, did you identify other challenges at the beginning of this period that are currently being addressed?

We are missing two other pillars. On the one hand, Canal Sur required a strategic plan that marked the horizon of what should be for the next ten years. The house's own workers prepared the Strategic Plan 2021-2026, in which our axes and objectives are marked, which are in line with the four points mentioned. On the other hand, a fundamental strategic project that we started in 2020: placing Canal Sur in the new consumer habits. Television and radio today are consumed in a different way. Already no one sits at home to watch a movie at eleven at night, or to watch a news program at eight thirty. On the contrary, they consume television and radio products when they want and how they want in their preferred devices. Therefore, we launched the project CanalSur More, an on-demand consumption platform that in its eight months of life is giving us many joys.

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The value that the public brings to the audiovisual

In recent years, the questioning of regional public television stations from the political level has redoubled, a conversation that inevitably ends up extending to the social level. Are they, in general terms, founded criticisms?

Public television, and not only Canal Sur, but also RTVE and other regional television stations, are necessary goods as public services. If Canal Sur did not exist, the Andalusian reality would be told through other eyes, which perhaps others would have more commercial interests than that of structuring and defending the values ​​and cultural, gastronomic or tourist idiosyncrasy of Andalusia. If Canal Sur did not exist, no media I would set foot in municipalities of 400 inhabitants to convey what is happening there.

I think that public television is experiencing a sweet moment in this emergence in which we are fragmenting audiovisual consumption globally. Its value of closeness now they have much more roots and strength.

Are the necessary resources being invested by the regional television stations or the administrations themselves to value the work of television stations such as Canal Sur?

I would say yes. Each regional television station and each organization in its community is doing a pedagogy work to explain to citizens the usefulness of this public service. There is one fact that is worth highlighting: beyond the public service of information, entertainment and dissemination, without public television, the development of the audiovisual fabric of each community would be non-existent. We are the motor of those little ones producers, companies services and supply companies; without the economic injection provided by regional television stations, they could hardly exist and they could grow to compete in this scenario.

Any euro that starts from a budget of a regional television public generates a double value: it provides a public information and dissemination service of information through our media, but it is also generated employment and wealth with that production.

Last year, in terms of program production, covering services, sound, lighting, cameras, mobile units, producers, scriptwriters or directors, we allocate more than 40 million euros. This ultimately generates wealth and, above all, young employment, which in many cases is the most qualified. I always say that any euro that comes from a public regional television budget generates a double value: lends a public information and dissemination service of information through our media, but it is also generated employment and wealth with that production.

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Competing in a hostile context

RTVA has been trying for years to achieve a balance of positive results, combining investment, subsidies and advertising income. Should a radio and television station with a strong public service objective try to become a profitable company that faces private competitors, whether national or regional?

Here is a paradox. The public regional televisions are a public service with all limitations what this implies, but we have to operate in a private market. For example, at the content level, we neither want nor are we going to make content that is They suppose they give more audiences, well because they are frivolous or because they have a application that do not enter any public regional television.

It is complex to face the budgets they have for the production of programs Mediaset o Atresmedia and see how this duopoly cannibalizes advertising revenue.

Another issue to consider is that we compete in a market with multinationals. It is complex to face the budgets they have for the production of programs Mediaset o Atresmedia and see how this duopoly cannibalizes advertising revenue. Even so, the audience levels that the FORTA regional television stations are providing are optimal and they are growing, which shows that the value of closeness and proximity is gaining strength in this globalized market. At the income level, we are growing with our new marketing company in double digits, a 25,6%, when the market is growing below 5%.

I think that public televisions are in a sweet moment that we have to take advantage of. Our public service value is becoming more and more noticeable, but We must not ignore the market in which we compete.

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The largest technological investment in the last two decades

As mentioned, Canal Sur is immersed in significant digital transformation progress. Why was it so important to undertake this project?

In a company the size of Canal Sur, it was necessary to change the internal work culture and apply digital transformation criteria. This term does not just mean changing a computer network or installing a new operating system, but change work culture so that new technologies allow the formation of a more efficient, effective and modern company. It addresses different aspects: from installing a dashboard, where the objectives to fulfill our public service are clarified, such as changing the workflows in different areas. It is a necessary culture that has many benefits and implies, in parallel, a technological renewal.

Canal Sur has one of the largest networks of territorial and production centers among Spanish television networks. How is the maintenance, renovation and updating of all these centers undertaken? Is there a risk that some of them will become outdated due to the investment required to maintain them?

Canal Sur provides territorial coverage to one of the largest communities in Spain. In terms of population and geographical extent, it is larger than Portugal and what others 14 countries of the European Union. Therefore, it is logical that Canal Sur has a territorial center in each province, more so if we take into account that value of closeness and proximity. We have to be present in these territories to respond to the problems that arise in each province.

Regarding technological renewal, a very important effort in the renewal of territorial centers. It was incredible that the Malaga production center did not broadcast in high definition In 2021, a whole anachronism for a television that wants to compete in this new audiovisual scenario. In fact, recently there have been changed and renewed all controls of the radio and television studios of the territorial centers.

The new digital platform editing, broadcast and archiving (…) represents an investment of 17.4 million euros, the greater investment in technology that has undertaken Channel On in both last decades

It has been a big leap, but the real qualitative leap It will arrive in January, when the new digital platform for editing, broadcasting and archiving. This initiative involves an investment of 17.4 million euros, the largest investment in technology that Canal Sur has undertaken in the last two decades. The installation will allow integrate all territorial centers, including our Madrid delegation. This platform will also give us the possibility of implementing new functionalities as artificial intelligence, integration with social networks or even metadata collection for future use in studies of big data.

At a time when there is a commitment to rationalize public broadcasting services, can the continuity of all Canal Sur's territorial and production centers be ensured?

Canal Sur would not be understood without the territorial centers. They are your soul and your reason for being..

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The big changes: IP and content model

Entities such as RTVE, Telemadrid or RTPA are beginning their transition to IP infrastructure. Will RTVA undertake this evolution in its near future?

It is not ruled out. Right now, our primary objective, as I told you, is to launch the new editing, broadcast and archiving platform, which will allow us to ingest, edit, post-produce, process content and manage the documentary archive for use in a distributed and collaborative manner from any of the territorial centers of Canal Sur. This is the biggest challenge that we have when it comes to technological renewal.

Different voices from the Spanish media ecosystem point out that television stations will have to change their mentality and processes to become generators of content on all platforms. Do you share this vision?

The main objective of Canal Sur is to fulfill its public service mission, which we have entrusted by our law of creation. But, beyond that, We are aware that the new audiovisual scenario demands other things. Therefore, another of our most important objectives is to become a global content provider.

And aim important is to become a global content provider.

We want to prepare Canal Sur to compete in the new audiovisual scenario. I think we are on our way to achieving this with our platform. CanalSur More, which has already been ranked 17th among OTT and video-on-demand platforms in Spain according to the latest Sigma II study. Just 8 months after launch, OTT has recorded 4.7 million sessions, and more than one million unique users. It is an OTT that allows the content of Canal Sur to be universalized throughout the world to become one of the Andalusia brand ambassadors for everyone, which also allows Canal Sur to be competitive in this new audiovisual stage.

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CanalSur Más, window to the future

Do you imagine CanalSur Más as a platform that, beyond hosting the audiovisual heritage of Canal Sur, serves to disseminate all the audiovisual productions that Andalusia has produced and continues to produce?

That is a goal we are already working on. We have created the perfect window for the dissemination of the audiovisual work of Andalusia. It made no sense that Canal Sur had the audiovisual heritage of the recent history of Andalusia with authentic audiovisual gems and that they could not be shared with the public. After updating our rights management basis and the acceleration of the pace of digitization of our archive, right now we have made more than 558 categories that gather 5825 assets, And we still have content to upload!

Furthermore, they are creating specific windows so that all the works in which Canal Sur has participated have a second life, thus becoming a platform for Andalusian creators. Any creator who wants their work to be broadcast on CanalSur More, after negotiating the rights, may do so.

On the other hand, CanalSur Más also allows us overcome the context of linear television. In Andalusia, Holy Week has incredible power. Many capitals have holy weeks declared to be of historical or tourist interest, but we can only show one on linear television. However, this Holy Week we have given 14 signs through CanalSur Más. With this platform, a window opens that multiplies the value of public service and makes the content can be consumed outside our borders, so we are also projecting the image of Andalusia and our creators outside the autonomous community, which is very important.

Canal Sur has been one of the first FORTA entities to embark on completing a video-on-demand platform, although the rest of the members are in the process of doing so. Why has it not been decided to undertake this project jointly?

In a way, it is being done. Canal Sur has been pioneer among all the regional television stations in launching ourselves into the adventure of creating an on-demand consumption platform. All the knowledge and experience that we have learned on this journey together with the company Interactvty from Córdoba we have made it available to all FORTA television stations. here they have come addresses techniques, and even our innovation director of Canal Sur Media has traveled to other communities to explain to them how the implementation has been. march of this process and its complexities so that they could shorten the deadlines that we had to cover initially.

In FORCE there is one continuous collaboration in terms of projects, and also from a technological point of view. There is a perfect communion of work and collaboration to ensure that the public televisions and radios that we are in FORTA can share that innovation and experience.

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An inscrutable tomorrow

How do you envision the Canal Sur of the future, once the milestones you are currently working on are consolidated, which have been addressed in this conversation?

If I had the answer to this question, I would have a magic wand or I would have fallen into the pot of Asterix and Obelix. It is difficult to define what will be the audiovisual stage of the future. We have witnessed an explosion of OTTs such as Netflix or Amazon that has made the 58% of households become subscribed to a OTT, and now we are seeing how they are rethinking your business model. This is a very lively sector that evolves very quickly.

Inside CanalSur More, we are already working to be present in the metaverso. We don't know where this project will take us, but we have already had a first experience. We are also experimenting with transmedia programs through Twitch and with platforms like TikTok. We must be attentive to these and many other changes, working with high beams to be able to be a organization competitive.

There are many changes and, to undertake them, it is important to have your organization both from the mentality point of view of digital transformation, as from the resource prism to be able to be situated and be able to compete in this race. Where will it take us? We are seeing how large multinationals They are also changing their approaches betting on platforms such as Mitele Plus or Atresplayer Premium. We are all studying where our future is going to go, which although it is uncertain, es exciting at the same time.

An interview by Sergio Julián Gómez