In an attempt to reduce expenditures and streamline operations at the Lebanese Information Ministry, the cabinet approved the merger of TeleLiban, Radio Liban and the National News Agency. It also cancelled a proposed 5,000 Lebanese pounds monthly surcharge on telephone bills to finance TeleLiban, and abolished a collective bargaining agreement for the station’s staff.
The proposed LP 5,000 surcharge will be replaced by $20 million allocated to TeleLiban and about $15 million to Radio Liban and the National News Agency, while up to 1,800 surplus staff at the three media outlets will be either reallocated to other governmental departments or laid off.
The labor agreement, negotiated during the war years, allowed the station’s staff to receive three times the sum of their end-of-service indemnities and has been a major obstacle to the restructuring of TeleLiban.
Previous governments have injected about $87 million to help the money-losing station over the past 22 years and have been unable to manage the firm effectively due to political interference.
A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) issued in 1999 stated that TeleLiban is beyond financial rescue and recommended the station’s liquidation. PWC revealed that the station has accumulated $47.90 million in losses in the 1996-98 period and that the station is breaking
Lebanese commercial laws as well as audio-visual laws by continuing to function after its losses exceeded 75 percent of its capital.
The previous cabinet tried to partially privatize TeleLiban through the sale of a 49 percent stake to the Saudi-owned Arab Media Company but the deal fell through due to alleged pressure from labor unions. — (Lebanon Invest)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
