Aid for the promotion of local information

Grants, granted under the de minimis regime and disbursed in a single instalment, to produce and broadcast, in the calendar year in which the application is submitted, self-produced information content of local interest for at least 60 or 30 minutes/day, excluding repeats (in the case of local TV or radio respectively) or, in the case of local online information portals, for at least 8 new contents/day, calculated as an average over a weekly interval from Monday to Sunday.
A score (max. 100 points) is awarded for each parameter taken into consideration, depending on the type of applicant, according to

• n. AWU employed journalists and other employed personnel for the previous calendar year;
• % of population reached by the signal (in the case of local television and radio broadcasters) at the date of submission of the application;
• duration or (in the case of online portals) no. of self-produced news content of local interest planned for the year in which the application is submitted;
• no. of viewers resulting from the regional Auditel survey of the previous calendar year; or no. of radio listeners resulting from the regional RadioTER survey of the previous calendar year;
• No. of years of activity in Trentino of the media at the date of submission of the application.

The applications are examined by APIAE - Facilitation and Economic Incentives Service, after obtaining the opinion of CORECOM concerning the checks provided for in point 7, paragraph 2 of the criteria.

The de minimis subsidy is granted in accordance with European Commission Regulation No 2023/2831 of 13 December 2023.

In return for the aid received, the company is obliged to comply with a number of obligations laid down in the criteria, in particular in connection with maintaining the employment levels of employed journalists and other employees, as well as fulfilling the continuing professional training obligations laid down by the Order of Journalists.

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1. local television broadcasters, understood as holders of concessions or authorisations on terrestrial frequencies, with editorial responsibility for television programme schedules, distinguished as:
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1. provincial, with a percentage of the population reached by its signal equal to at least 30% of the population resident in the provincial territory;
2. valley, with a percentage of population reached with its own signal equal to at least 50% of the population resident in the Valley Community;
2. local radio broadcasters, understood as holders of concessions or authorisations on terrestrial frequencies, with responsibility for radio programme schedules, distinguished in:
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1. provincial, with a percentage of the population reached by their signal equal to at least 30% of the population resident in the provincial territory;
2. valley, with a percentage of population reached with its own signal equal to at least 50% of the population resident in the Valley Community;
3. local online information portals, understood as owners of a portal developed on web or social platforms, responsible for publishing self-produced information content of local interest. Web TVs and web radios, i.e. those broadcasters that transmit their television or radio content via the Internet, are to be considered as online information portals. Online information portals that are the expression of print newspapers are also included. Le attività informative veicolate dalle piattaforme social devono essere intese quali produzione e distribuzione di informazioni esercitate nella forma di impresa, ricadenti sotto la responsabilità di un direttore ed iscritte nel Registro degli Operatori di Comunicazione (ROC), oltre che presso il competente Tribunale.

Such entities must

• be registered with the Register of Communication Operators (ROC) or, in the case of online portals, with the competent court (except for portals developed on a social platform, which require registration with both the competent court and the ROC)
• have at least one operational office in the provincial territory
• have a journalistic editorial office, constituted as defined in point 2(1)(d) of the criteria (available at the link)

• Owner
• Legal representative of the company

Each applicant may submit to APIAE - Facilitation and Economic Incentives Service, only one application for a grant per year, from 15 January to 15 February, on the basis of these criteria, approved by Resolution of the Provincial Council no. 1666/2023 as amended, as an alternative to the application for a grant submitted by companies providing "services of general economic interest" in accordance with the criteria established by the Provincial Council for SGEIs, in implementation of Article 2, paragraph 2 of Provincial Law no. 18/2016.

The aforementioned grant application must be submitted only by certified electronic mail, to the following address:
apiae.contr.energia@pec.provincia.tn.it

The following documents must be attached to the application

• news sheet;
• plain copies of the contracts of journalists employed on a permanent basis;
• (in the case of companies with employees) prospectus summarising the previous year's employees (in terms of AWU), showing any dismissal of journalist employees, prepared and signed by a professional registered with the Professional Association of Chartered Accountants and Bookkeepers, with the Order of Legal Auditors, with the Order of Labour Consultants, or with a C.A.T. - H.U.B. - service companies controlled by a Trade Association (see prospectus trace)
• (in the case of dismissal of one or more journalists that occurred between the date of application and the previous 12 months) copy of the agreement with the trade unions that commits the company to fully or partially re-establish the pre-existing employment levels on the basis of a shared business plan;
• (in the case of local television or radio broadcasters) any Auditel or RadioTER average audience certification for the previous calendar year;
• information notice on the processing of personal data: the information notice on the processing of personal data must also be completed by each employee journalist indicated in the employee summary table for the previous year.