Corporación de Servizos Audiovisuais de Galicia (CSAG)

The Galician Radio and Television Corporation (CRTVG) traces its origins back to the Galician Radio‑Television Company, with its inception in 1985 as Galicia’s first Galician‑language radio and television services. In 2016, it adopted its current structure and name as a corporation overseeing these public media operations. Its core mission remains the same: to enhance and preserve Galician language and cultural identity across television and radio platforms. In 2024, the Galician Parliament approved a legal reform that changed the broadcaster’s official name from CRTVG (Corporación de Radio e Televisión de Galicia) to CSAG (Corporación de Servizos Audiovisuais de Galicia), reflecting its broader remit beyond traditional radio and television.

Media assets

Television: TVG, G2, TVG Europa, TVG América

Radio: Radio Galega, Radio Galega Música, Son Galicia Radio

State Media Matrix Typology

Ownership and governance

CSAG, formerly CRTVG, is a public entity owned by the Galician regional government, grounded in Law 9/1985 of Galicia. It is governed by a Board of Directors, whose members are appointed by the Galician Parliament to represent a spectrum of political parties.

The executive leadership rests with the Director General, who is directly appointed by the Xunta de Galicia and serves a term concurrent with legislative periods.

After more than 15 years at the helm, Alfonso Sánchez Izquierdo has stepped down as Director General of the Galician Radio and Television Corporation (CRTVG), a post he had held since his appointment in 2009 by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, then president of the Xunta de Galicia and current leader of Spain’s conservative Partido Popular (PP). Izquierdo’s long tenure, often criticized for aligning the broadcaster’s editorial line with the PP and marred by legal controversies, including investigations into alleged workplace harassment, ended in July 2025. On 8 July 2025, the Galician Parliament appointed Concepción Pombo as his successor, completing the leadership transition at what is now formally called the Corporación de Servizos Audiovisuais de Galicia (CSAG).

Pombo’s arrival, described by observers as a choice of continuity, leaves her with the challenge of managing a broadcaster marked both by recent innovation—such as the launch of UHD broadcasting—and by growing internal unrest, including the corporation’s first-ever indefinite strike in 2024 over outsourcing and editorial pressures.

Source of funding and budget

CSAG’s funding base remains largely composed of two streams: regional government subsidies alongside advertising revenues and content-related commercial activity. In 2020, CRTVG’s budget stood at approximately €111 million, with over 91 % coming from regional subsidies and the remainder from advertising. By 2023, the budget had increased to €126.6 million, with around €118.7 million sourced as government subsidy.

The corporation’s 2025 budget saw further growth: the regional Parliament approved a budget of €135.7 million, an increase of €4.5 million compared to 2024. Of this, around €41 million (30.3 %) was allocated to content procurement from Galicia’s audiovisual sector—covering fiction, documentaries, and entertainment—while the personnel budget rose to nearly €58 million (42.7 %) to support employment stability. Additional investments included €1.5 million for technological modernization (covering new radio production systems, TVG continuity control systems, and studio lighting) and €650,000 for technical equipment upgrades.

Editorial independence

CRTVG’s founding legal framework includes provisions intended to protect its editorial independence, supplemented by its internal “Guiding criteria for the editorial direction,” which governs quality and impartiality.

Nonetheless, increasing political pressure and attempts at influence, particularly from the ruling PP in the regional Parliament, have sparked growing unrest among CRTVG staff. Journalists have consistently opposed what they view as attempts to control editorial content, staging frequent protests since around 2018.

A rare escalation occurred when 2024 marked the corporation’s first-ever indefinite strike, triggered by the outsourcing of the long‑running in‑house program A Revista to private production companies. Workers argued that this outsourced coproduction, with nearly identical participants but delivered by private entities, unjustifiably increased public spending and concentrated narrative control among those aligned with the governing party. The strike, with approximately 32.5 % participation, led to partial interruption of programming and brought to light an ongoing judicial investigation into alleged workplace harassment implicating several executives, including the Director General.

August 2025