The director of the RBB, Katrin Vernau, apparently sees little prospect for the production of the lunchtime magazines to keep the ARD at their station. She made that clear last Friday at a digital works meeting. The RBB can do that Mima not continue to finance, that is “the decision-making process, there is no uncertainty,” said Vernau, according to participants. That doesn’t mean that you’re not trying to find a solution in the ARD, emphasized Vernau. But she also made it clear that she was negotiating about that Mima to continue producing at the RBB, but to finance it jointly with the other broadcasters via the ARD levy, considers it practically hopeless. Of course, RBB has an interest in that Mima will continue to be produced at the station location. But “if you can’t throw anything into the scales yourself,” then things look bad, explained the director. Among what she has to offer in the RBB, she counts the experience of the editors (“great team with great people”), which cannot be offered a solution at the moment. Vernau wants to save 49 million euros in the scandal-ridden broadcaster by the end of 2024 to ensure liquidity. One of the measures announced a few weeks ago is that the RBB Mima no longer wants to finance “from their own resources”.
The use of the ZDF capital city studio in the Zollerhof, where the Mima Since 2017, the RBB has already given notice at the end of March. At that time it was still said that it was “not a decision by RBB or ARD against that lunchtime magazine or the cooperation with the ZDF”. As it is with the lunchtime magazine continues, should also be a topic at the meeting of the artistic directors this week in Bonn. If that Mima moves away from the RBB due to a lack of support from the ARD community and is produced elsewhere in the ARD, there is certainly a need for explanation: More synergies with ZDF than in the current constellation at the politically close location Unter den Linden can hardly be found.