The management board of Romanian public television (SRTv) was dismissed on September 27, after the parliament rejected the broadcaster’s annual report for 2016.

The Romanian state broadcaster has been struggling financially for years. According to the head of the parliamentary culture commission Radu Preda, the company’s loss amounted to RON653.9mn (€142.2mn) at the end of last year.

SRTv’s annual report was rejected by 203 votes in favour and 74 against, Agerpres news agency reported. As a result the management board and chief executive Irina Radu were dismissed.

“As results from the activity report, we remind that TVR ended on December 31, 2016 the most difficult year in its history. The collapse started 10 years ago, the increase in the debt, the lack of valuable acquisitions, the neglect of production, the underfunding and internal and external lack of interest towards the institution have brought the national television to the brink of collapse,” Preda said.

He added that investments in programmes dropped 90% and market share shrank by 85%.

The parliamentary culture commission has appointed Doina Gradea as interim chief executive.

Last April, Romania was forced to pull out of the Eurovision song contest due to the state broadcaster’s financial problems. In turn, SRTv has been calling since 2010 for changes to the law to enable more effective funding for public television. In 2016, the broadcaster said it was being financed by a TV tax of just RON4 (€0.90) per month per household, which had not been increased since 2003.

SRTv is not the only public service broadcaster in the region to be in dire financial straits. Bosnian state broadcaster BHRT has been on the verge of collapse for years, with closure now likely to be averted after a deal was struck with local power firm Elektroprivreda BiH to collect TV licence fees through electricity bills.