The President of the National Radio and Television Company (SNRT), Fayçal Laraïchi, revealed the main advances in the process of grouping public channels under a common entity, namely a “ holding“. He indicated that, within two months, the company will have acquired 100% of the shares of “ Soread 2M » and “ Medi1 TV », while ensuring that this merger will in no way change their respective editorial lines.
During a meeting of the Committee on Education, Culture and Communication, held this Tuesday in the presence of Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Laraïchi specified that this initiative is a government decision. It is not a question of creating a new company called “ holding “, but to assign this role to the SNRT, which currently employs 2,300 employees, so that it becomes the owner of the radio and television channels of the public center.
The steps completed so far relate to the acquisition of the radio “ Medi1 ”, from the string “Medi1 TV » and the company « Board 3 », specialized in the marketing of advertising space for public channels, he said, noting that concerning “ Soread 2M », in-depth studies are underway to analyze legal, financial and tax commitments. According to him, this process will be finalized in the next two months, allowing SNRT to hold 100% of “Soread 2M», 100% of «Medi1 TV”, as well as 83.6% of “Medi1 Radio» and “Board 3».
Laraïchi further emphasized that this “ holding » is part of a political vision aimed at bringing together the means for rational management on the financial and productive levels, and in investments, such as for satellites or geographical coverage. This will allow real and tangible optimization of the operational costs of each company, he assured.
The boss of the SNRT also noted that this process will require a centralized system bringing together all the data relating to the different companies in a dedicated application. This centralization will facilitate harmonized management. For example, if several chains wish to acquire equipment such as cameras, consolidating the calls for tenders into one would make it possible to negotiate with the most competitive suppliers and spread the costs. In addition, this approach will harmonize technical and cultural practices within companies.
Another advantage of this grouping concerns employee training. Laraïchi explained that it will be possible to organize collective training sessions and optimize the use of internal resources. For example, SNRT, which has cutting-edge mobile production trucks, will be able to make them available to 2M and Medi1 TV during major events, instead of each entity investing separately. This will reduce costs for all channels.
Concerning satellites, he affirmed that public channels will be brought together in the same offer on a single satellite frequency. This will facilitate negotiations with operators like Nilesatwhile increasing the visibility and dissemination of Moroccan public media at a lower cost.
Laraïchi also addressed the rationalization of broadcasting stations on the national territory. Currently, SNRT has 200 stations, while 2M has 90, and Medi1 TV even fewer. The merger of these infrastructures will allow common management of human and technical resources, thus reducing staff numbers and rationalizing field missions.
Furthermore, the manager insisted on the fact that this initiative will contribute to a significant reduction in costs, an increase in productivity, and increased complementarity between the channels, while guaranteeing respect for the editorial lines of each entity, without interference from one society over another.
Finally, Laraïchi specified that once the acquisition of the channels is finalized, discussions will be initiated with the government to establish a unified program contract. Law 03-77 requires that public audiovisual companies have program contracts to finance their specifications.
This contract, concluded between ministries and companies, will now be unique for the holding company, replacing individual agreements. This transition will guarantee, according to Laraïchi, effective control of the financial management of each company, thus constituting a key stage of this transformation.
