Czech Television Council issues strong reprimand to Director General

The Czech Television Council voted on a strongly worded resolution criticizing the work of Director General Jan Souček during its Wednesday public meeting. The Council reprimanded him for non-standard severance packages for managers, excessive redaction of contracts and orders in the public registry, and public threats to cancel stations, which he cannot do without the Council's approval.

The resolution was divided into three parts, with council members voting separately on each. Seventeen of the eighteen total council members were present at the meeting.

The first part states: "The Czech Television Council reprimands Director General Jan Souček for non-standard payments to employees upon termination of employment outside the collective agreement framework. For example, in the case of a manager who was granted a non-compete clause payment practically equal to his total income for his entire six-month employment period. The Council also considers incorrect the payment of an extraordinary bonus to a manager whose employment was terminated during the probationary period, amounting to 2.5 times his salary, when the law explicitly prohibits severance payments in such cases."

Fourteen council members voted for this part: Karel Novák, Vlastimil Ježek, Milada Richterová, Jiří Šlégr, Tomáš Řehák, David Brabec, Jiří Padevět, Ivana Chmel Denčevová, Jefim Fistein, Bára Procházková, Luboš Xaver Veselý, Roman Bradáč, Pavel Matocha and Ivan Tesař. Petr Šafařík and Ladislav Mrklas voted against it. Ilja Racek abstained.

The second point states: "The Czech Television Council further reprimands Director General Jan Souček for excessive restricting of access to parts of contracts and orders concluded by Czech Television beyond protecting its legitimate business interests. The Council has repeatedly notified the Director General of this fact without any significant change in this practice."

This section was also supported by fourteen council members: Karel Novák, Vlastimil Ježek, Milada Richterová, Jiří Šlégr, Jiří Padevět, Ivana Chmel Denčevová, Jefim Fistein, Bára Procházková, Ilja Racek, Petr Šafařík, Luboš Xaver Veselý, Roman Bradáč, Pavel Matocha and Ivan Tesař. Ladislav Mrklas voted against it, while David Brabec and Tomáš Řehák abstained.

The final point states: "The Czech Television Council reprimands Director General Jan Souček for communicating with the public, particularly in media appearances, in a manner that damages Czech Television's reputation. In this context, the Council specifically reprimands the Director General for his public communication regarding the Czech Television Act amendment, especially public threats to cancel the ČT :D, ČT art, and ČT sport channels, and the inappropriate form and content of the prematurely terminated campaign on the same matter in Czech Television broadcasts. The Council also reminds the Director General that canceling program channels without Council approval is not within his exclusive authority."

Thirteen council members supported this part: Karel Novák, Vlastimil Ježek, Milada Richterová, Jiří Šlégr, Tomáš Řehák, Jiří Padevět, Ivana Chmel Denčevová, Jefim Fistein, Bára Procházková, Luboš Xaver Veselý, Roman Bradáč, Pavel Matocha and Ivan Tesař. Petr Šafařík voted against it, while David Brabec, Ilja Racek and Ladislav Mrklas abstained.

Regarding the reprimands, the Director General stated that non-compete clauses for management positions are concluded from the first day of contracts. "If we terminated the employment after six months, the employee was already entitled to a six-month non-compete clause payment. Managers at this level have access to a large amount of sensitive data. The person became familiar with sensitive materials while working for Czech Television, so maintaining the non-compete clause was in the direct interest of Czech Television," he emphasized.

No names were mentioned due to personal data protection. Regarding the manager who left after four months and received 2.5 times his salary, Souček said this was a reward for completing an ongoing project that Czech Television needed.

Concerning contract redactions, the Director General doesn't understand the basis for this criticism, as he issued an updated internal regulation in October 2024 and employee training has begun. The Council's Supervisory Commission has only just started investigating the implementation of these changes for the first quarter of this year. "Why are you reprimanding me for ineffective contract redactions when you don't have an opinion from your own advisory body that you tasked with this?" the Director General wondered.

He asked the council members what specific errors they saw in his communication regarding the media amendment. "Practically everything," replied council member Vlastimil Ježek. "That's truly valuable feedback for a manager. I must appreciate that," the Director General responded ironically.

Council member Ladislav Mrklas objected to the timing of these reprimands, as the Senate is about to discuss increasing television fees. "If we talked about not wanting to harm Czech Television and public service media when the Senate is about to vote on fee increases, I think we couldn't have played this better than we have been playing it here. Jan Souček is certainly not a perfect director. However, I think he inherited many issues in such a state that he's still working through them and will continue to do so for some time," he explained his opposition to the reprimands.

"I think exactly the opposite. The Council certainly has oversight functions that the Senate will appreciate rather than not. So this idea of 'let's be silent and wait until something happens' is something I honestly haven't believed in my entire life," responded council member Vlastimil Ježek, who proposed the reprimands for approval.