Funding to promote local news

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

• the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) journalists and other staff employed in the previous calendar year;
• the percentage of the population reached by the signal (for local television and radio broadcasters) as at the date of application;
• duration or (in the case of online portals) the number of self-produced news items of local interest planned for the year in which the application is submitted;
• the number of television viewers as per the regional Auditel survey for the previous calendar year, or the number of radio listeners as per the regional RadioTER survey for the previous calendar year;
• the number of years the media outlet has been operating in Trentino as at the date of submission of the application.

Applications are assessed by APIAE – Economic Support and Incentives Service, after obtaining CORECOM’s opinion regarding the checks set out in point 7, paragraph 2 of the criteria.

The ‘de minimis’ grant is awarded in accordance with European Commission Regulation No 2023/2831 of 13 December 2023.

In return for the aid received, the company is required to comply with a series of obligations set out in the criteria, relating in particular to maintaining the employment levels of salaried journalists and other staff, as well as to fulfilling the continuing professional development requirements laid down by the Order of Journalists.

1. local television broadcasters, defined as holders of licences or authorisations for terrestrial frequencies, who have editorial responsibility for television programme schedules, categorised as follows:
1. provincial, with a percentage of the population reached by their own signal amounting to at least 30 per cent of the population resident within the provincial territory;
2. valley-based, with a percentage of the population reached by their own signal amounting to at least 50 per cent of the population resident in the Valley Community;
2. local radio broadcasters, defined as holders of a licence or authorisation for terrestrial frequencies, with responsibility for radio programme schedules, divided into:
1. provincial stations, with a percentage of the population reached by their own signal amounting to at least 30 per cent of the resident population within the province;
2. valley stations, with a percentage of the population reached by their own signal amounting to at least 50 per cent of the resident population within the Valley Community;
3. local online news portals, defined as operators of a portal developed on web or social media platforms, responsible for publishing self-produced news content of local interest. Web TV and web radio stations – that is, broadcasters that transmit their television or radio content via the internet – are to be regarded as online information portals. This also includes online information portals operated by print newspapers. News activities carried out via social media platforms must be regarded as the production and distribution of information conducted as a business, falling under the responsibility of an editor-in-chief and registered in the Register of Communication Operators (ROC), as well as with the relevant court.

Such entities must:

• be registered in the Register of Communication Operators (ROC) or, in the case of online portals, with the relevant court (except for portals developed on social media platforms, which must be registered both with the relevant court and with the ROC);
• have at least one operational office within the province;
• have a journalistic editorial team, constituted in accordance with the definitions set out in point 2, paragraph 1, letter d) of the criteria (available at the link)

• Owner
• Legal representative of the company

Each applicant may submit to APIAE – Economic Support and Incentives Service –only one grant application per year, between 15 January and 15 February, in accordance with these criteria, approved by Provincial Council Resolution No. 1666/2023 and subsequent amendments, as an alternative to the application for financial support submitted by undertakings providing ‘services of general economic interest’ in accordance with the criteria established by theProvincial Executive for SGIs, pursuant to Article 2(2) of Provincial Law No. 18/2016.  

The aforementioned application for a grant must be submitted exclusively via certified email to the following address:
apiae.contr.energia@pec.provincia.tn.it

The following documents must be attached to the application:

• fact sheet;
• an uncertified copy of the contracts of journalists employed on a permanent basis;
• (in the case of companies with employees) a summary statement of employees for the previous year (in terms of full-time equivalents), showing any redundancies of journalist employees, drawn up and signed by a professional registered with the Professional Register of Chartered Accountants and Accounting Experts, Statutory Auditors, the Order of Labour Consultants, or a C.A.T. – H.U.B. – service company controlled by a trade association (seetemplate);
• (in the event of the dismissal of one or more journalists during the period between the date of the application and the preceding 12 months) a copy of the agreement with the relevant trade unions committing the company to fully or partially restore pre-existing employment levels on the basis of a jointly agreed business plan;
• (in the case of local television or radio broadcasters) any certificate of average audience figures from Auditel or RadioTER relating to the previous calendar year;
• privacy notice: theprivacy notice must also be completed by each employed journalist listed in the summary of employees for the previous year.

Applications may be submitted from 15 January to 15 February each year.