TV3 opens disciplinary proceedings against Xavier Valls for complaining on air about schedule changes

BarcelonaThe management of TV3 has initiated disciplinary proceedings against sports journalist Xavier Valls for criticizing on-air the schedule changes affecting Onze, the sports talk show he presents on the Esport3 channel. The human resources department informs him that a period of investigation is being opened to clarify the facts and warns that these actions "could contravene the style guide of the Catalan Corporation of Audiovisual Media (CCMA), be constitutive of disciplinary offenses, and lead to sanctions," according to the disciplinary letter, which ARA has accessed.

The origin of the controversy is the audience rating of the program Onze on Esport3 on the day of Real Madrid's elimination from the Copa del Rey, which was higher than that obtained by Fanzone, despite being broadcast on TV3, which has an audience base ten times larger. The following week, to prevent Xavier Valls' sports talk show from overshadowing Gerard Romero's show, it was decided that Fanzone would be broadcast simultaneously on both channels, and Onze had to wait for the first program to end before starting, close to midnight, with the consequent impact on audience ratings.

Specifically, and as stated in the human resources document, two on-air interventions are pointed out. The first was on Tuesday, two days before the schedule change. "On Thursday, indeed, we will go on air at a quarter past eleven at night. Why? Because we are following Fanzone. [...] It is a decision we do not agree with, and we have conveyed that to them, but we will be here, resisting," Valls said. When the day of the program arrived, he insisted: "We are here, even though it is much later than the usual time. The reason is that Onze cannot coincide with Fanzone. Today it should be called Dotze, rather than Onze, this program."

In addition to these on-air statements, for which he has been disciplined, Valls also referred to the matter on social media. In one of his posts on X, he showed a cap with the inscription Fan-Onze, an anagram of Fanzone.

Sources from the CCMA management explain to this newspaper that the proceedings come after repeated incidents where the journalist has used his on-air time to criticize the company's decisions and remind that there are internal channels to express complaints and receive appropriate explanations. They also note that there are bodies such as the professional council, to which Valls can appeal for protection. In fact, this council issued a statement three weeks ago expressing "discontent and perplexity" over what they considered to be preferential treatment for Fanzone. The background to the controversy is the tension between a Sports department that claims to produce content internally during a time of few premium sports rights and an external program produced by Atomic Beat. In the statement, they considered that Onze had been "marginalized" and that "the television management has not respected the criteria of the different sports editors nor the work of its professionals, creating a perfectly avoidable conflict." The professional council represents the journalists working at CCMA.

According to ARA, the team of Onze sent a signed letter to TV3 management expressing their disagreement with the initiation of disciplinary proceedings. The management responded with another letter in which they explained the reasons for the disciplinary measure.