Timo Kalli, the chairman of the Centre party parliamentary group, said the top brass of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) had broken their promise to Parliament by announcing plans to reduce the number of regional broadcasts. “We were assured that the joint declaration by the parliamentary groups would guarantee services this year and next year,” Mr Kalli said in a statement.
The group leaders agreed in March that the public broadcaster would receive an extra 480 million euros next year in order to preserve the current level of service. Mr Kalli went on to threaten YLE with countermeasures if it went ahead with its plans. “If YLE carries out the planned broadcast schedule cuts in the regions Parliament may for its part reconsider the level of funding that was agreed in March.”