Investigation · Departmental spending
TV Ciudad: what the city’s TV channel costs, and why it barely shows up in procurement
The municipal channel costs between USD 8 and 10 million a year, but that money is budgetary: it isn’t tendered, so it barely appears in the Compras Estatales data. Here is what does get recorded — the equipment and supplies that name the channel, file by file — and what the press reported: the budget, the advertising, the NBA deal and the cuts.
The context
A channel funded by budget, not by tender
TV Ciudad is a unit of the Intendencia de Montevideo, not a buyer with its own number. Its cost — about $304 million in 2023 (≈ USD 7.6 M), and some $405 million projected for 2026 (≈ USD 10 M) — is paid from the city budget: salaries, operations and equipment. That is why it does not exist as a list of contracts you can add up.
The political argument is old and ongoing: the opposition questions the spend given low ratings and asks to redirect funds to streets and sanitation; the city defends its cultural and news mandate. This investigation separates the two: what the procurement data records (little, but verifiable) and what the press reported (most of the money, as cited context).
The scale
Where TV Ciudad’s budget goes
The 2023 budget composition per the Intendencia’s accounts (El Observador). These are not contracts from the data — it is budget — but it shows the channel’s true scale, far above what procurement reveals.
TV Ciudad budget by line (2023)
The scale
Six of every ten pesos are salaries ($184 M of $304 M). Advertising, which multiplied fivefold between 2020 and 2024 to $15.4 M, covers barely 5% of the channel’s cost (it was 3% in 2023, per El Observador). The taxpayer covers the rest.
The evidence
What the data does record
The Compras Estatales records (buyer 98-1) that name TV Ciudad: studio equipment, vehicles, works and supplies, verified in the data and linked to their file on the site. Five carry an awarded amount; the rest are tender calls with no award on record yet. It is what is bought for the channel, not what it costs to run.
| Date | Item | Supplier | Category | Amount | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 jul. 2024 | Libro «Cocinemos» de TV Ciudad (impresión) | MERALIR S A | Supplies & printing | $ 280.400 | View contract → |
| 06 dic. 2021 | Switcher / equipo de control de estudio para TV Ciudad | ISBEL S.A. | Equipment | $ 82.315 | View contract → |
| 22 may. 2024 | Recetario del programa de TV Ciudad (impresión) | PITTAMIGLIO SCARCHELLI SANTIAGO J. | Supplies & printing | $ 66.850 | View contract → |
| 26 dic. 2025 | Disco duro interno para servidores (NAS) de TV Ciudad | BANIFOX S.A. | Equipment | $ 12.353 | View contract → |
| 24 dic. 2025 | 3 computadores de escritorio especiales para TV Ciudad | MUNDOMAC S.A | Equipment | $ 11.220 | View contract → |
| 23 oct. 2025 | Camión doble cabina, destino TV Ciudad | — | Vehicles | No award on record | View contract → |
| 26 feb. 2025 | Camión cabina simple, destino TV Ciudad | — | Vehicles | No award on record | View contract → |
| 06 jun. 2023 | Sistema de gestión de medios audiovisuales / servidor de almacenamiento para TV Ciudad | — | Equipment | No award on record | View contract → |
| 29 nov. 2012 | 2 editores no lineales (filmación) para TV Ciudad | — | Equipment | No award on record | View contract → |
| 29 may. 2012 | Reforma de los accesos a TV Ciudad | — | Works | No award on record | View contract → |
| 12 jun. 2009 | 4 editores no lineales (filmación) para TV Ciudad de la I.M.M. | — | Equipment | No award on record | View contract → |
Keep exploring
The rest of the city government
TV Ciudad is one piece of Montevideo’s spending. For the full picture — the deficit, the discretionary spend, every contract — open the city investigation or the explorer.
The cases that made the news
What surfaced in the press
Four fronts of the public debate over TV Ciudad. They come from the cited press, not the procurement data; we add them as context, each with its link.
The channel’s annual cost, between USD 8 and 10 million per the city accounts and the press, questioned while funds were demanded for streets and sanitation.
Advertising income multiplied fivefold between 2020 and 2024 (from $2.9 M to $15.4 M), yet covers barely 5% of the channel’s cost (3% in 2023, per El Observador). Since 2022 unions such as Fenapes, Adur and Fucvam have advertised on it.
TV Ciudad’s NBA broadcast carried a confidentiality clause (12.f). The cost — about US$165k with playoffs and US$230k for a full season the next year — was made public by director Mauricio Zunino despite the clause.
In 2025 the city cut 10% of the channel’s budget: a news edition went off air, 30 to 40 day laborers were let go, and the union Adeom declared a pre-conflict.
These figures come from the press, not from a procurement file: TV Ciudad does not bill as a single identifiable contract in the open data. Its budget is a line of the city’s spending. We keep them as context, each linked to its article.
How it was done
Method and limits
The ledger comes from the site’s data (Compras Estatales, buyer 98-1), searching the text «TV Ciudad» in the title, the item description and its classification. Twenty records appear. The awarded amount does not live in the tender-call record but in its sibling award record (same purchase number): cross-referencing them, five resolved to a verified amount and supplier; the rest still have no award on record. Each row links to the contract’s page on the site.
The undercount is deliberate and explicit: the channel’s real cost is budgetary, not tendered, and equipment purchases are awarded in files whose titles no longer mention TV Ciudad. That is why most of the money sits in the press section, not the ledger. This is transparency work over open data, not an audit.
Sources
Verified sources
- El Observador — Ingresos por publicidad ×5 (2020–2024): quiénes pautan en el canal
- El Observador — Los recortes en TV Ciudad ascienden al 10% del presupuesto
- El Observador — La NBA por TV Ciudad: cuánto costó y la cláusula confidencial
- La Mañana — TV Ciudad: el millonario canal de la Intendencia de Montevideo
- Montevideo · Portal institucional — TV Ciudad
- Compras Estatales — cada registro del ledger enlaza a su ficha oficial
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About this data
This is data journalism over open data, not an audit. Purchase amounts are what the State publishes; the budget, advertising and media cases are what the cited press reported.
TV Ciudad is neither a buyer nor a supplier in the data: it is a unit of the city government. The ledger shows only what procurement records under its name — a fraction of the real cost — and every record links to its official source so anyone can check.