The general director of the Corporación de Servizos Audiovisuais de Galicia (CSAG), Concepción Pombo, has reiterated the need to guarantee "quality in measurement" of the audimeters that calculate the audiences of audiovisual media, while denouncing that there have been "20 months out of 24 with poor measurements".
In a parliamentary appearance, she responded to the Socialist deputy Aitor Bouza, who criticized that the data for public television stood at "7.3%", that is, "four tenths less than in the same month of the previous year". "The trend is downward," the parliamentarian warned, who also asked what measures were adopted by the management headed by Pombo to "recover viewers".
Bouza has also questioned that "more than 18.9 million euros" are allocated to external services, a figure that the Socialist interprets as "a massive transfer of public capital into private hands".
In the face of these criticisms, Pombo has highlighted that the October 2026 data places the TVG as "the fourth most-watched channel in Galicia after TVE, Antena 3 and Telecinco".
The person responsible for the CSAG has also emphasized the Corporation’s digital performance, pointing out that last month "190 million reproductions, 262 million impressions and 69% more interactions" were reached, while the entity’s official accounts add up to "3.2 million followers, 31% more". "All this with a 100% offer in Galician," Pombo stressed, who recalled that "there is increasingly more adult population" that does not use Galician as its usual language and that the CSAG’s growth "in the digital sphere" helps to "expand further" its reach.
Debate over the election campaign
After these explanations, Aitor Bouza reproached the general director for now displaying impact data on social networks when, at the meeting with the parliamentary groups to assess the coverage plan for the election campaign of 29 November, they were told that "they had no information or data" about this area.
"They don’t coordinate to even be able to lie," the PSdeG deputy said, recalling that at that meeting they were told that "there were no data". Immediately afterward, he demanded that "in an electoral framework the rules are complied with objectively" and that, since they have statistics about social networks, "apply them within the electoral framework". Pombo replied that she "always" provides the digital figures in parliamentary committees.
Controversy over information about the Urda accident
At another point in the commission, Bouza referred to an information advance broadcast on the Bos Días program of TVG, hosted by María Cheda, on the past 3 November, when a new railway accident in Urda (Toledo) was mistakenly reported after reading live a message from the social network 'X' of Adif that was later removed.
"We and all of Galicia know the eagerness that the public body had for certain things to happen; I say this because you only have to look at the publications that later had to be taken down," the Socialist MP said.
In the face of these accusations, Pombo argued that the information spread "came from an official and verified Adif profile" and, although he admitted that it was "surprising", given that the line remained closed after the accident of 28 October, "it was what was written in that communication".
"Should we distrust Adif as a source? There are plenty of reasons lately to distrust," he added, insisting that the origin of the news was "a communication from an official source".
"We accept responsibility for what we broadcast," the directora xeral stressed, denying any "interest in political manipulation". She also rejected that the criticism be personalized toward the presenter of the program. In her view, "professional criticism may be legitimate, but pointing out, insults, personal humiliation, lynching, abusive message chains, do not improve the information or contribute anything other than violence".
The BNG questions information neutrality
In the same session, the BNG deputy Mercedes Queixas accused the head of the CSAG of "lack of neutrality and manipulation" within the Corporation, denouncing that "only the PP speaks on the agenda". "The only goal is to shield the Government of the Xunta's management. There is no room for any criticism," she said.
Pombo defended that the public body’s programs "work to comply with the neutrality principles that apply".
After Queixas's criticisms for a message on 'X' in which it was wrongly reported, citing another outlet, of a fire at a Zara Home in A Coruña during the October disturbances in the city, the directora xeral argued that "that erroneous tweet does not invalidate the vandal acts that occurred in the city".
The BNG parliamentarian replied by accusing Pombo of "lying shamelessly by saying that a Zara Home store was on fire".
Regarding the debate about the audiences, Pombo referred to the ACB match between Breogán and Barça, which, as he explained, obtained "2.7%, with stretches below 1%," while the televisions connected to the TVG at that time reflected that "there were 25,000 devices in Galicia following all or part of the match".
"Was the match a failure and we have to stop giving it, or was it a success of public service? They asked us to provide basketball and now Kantar says that basketball gives 2, and we are asked for accounts," he concluded.