The Senate on Tuesday approved Marcela Sabat and Pedro Huichalaf to serve on the board of Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) for eight years. The chamber voted 40 in favor with 2 abstentions at a special session.
According to BioBioChile, President José Antonio Kast nominated both. They replace former board members María del Pilar Vergara and Marcia Scantlebury, whose terms expired on September 5, 2026.
TVN's board has seven members and oversees the state broadcaster. By law, its members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The upper house therefore has the final say on each appointment.
The two appointments reflect a division between political blocs. Sabat is a journalist and holds a law degree. She served as a National Renewal (RN) deputy between 2010 and 2020, and as a senator from August 2020 to March 2022. For more than ten years, she was a director and vice president of Fundación Miradas Compartidas.
Huichalaf is a lawyer. He served as Undersecretary of Telecommunications between March 2014 and October 2016, during Michelle Bachelet's second administration. He took part in implementing digital terrestrial television, the system that replaced analog broadcast television signals.
Before the vote, Senator Alejandra Sepúlveda reported on the Culture Committee session, where both candidates presented their views on public television. Claudio Alvarado, who serves as both Minister of the Interior and Minister Secretary-General of Government, was present in the chamber.
The debate exposed the broadcaster's financial situation. During the discussion, senators said TVN carries debt of nearly 70 billion pesos. In the lawmakers' view, that burden requires a change to the current self-financing model.
There was cross-party agreement that the broadcaster should give more airtime to the regions and distinguish itself from commercial television. Senators called for a focus on culture, education, news and sports, as well as political pluralism.
According to La Tercera, Luciano Cruz-Coke (Evópoli) argued that the broadcaster should not be shut down. However, he asked the new board members to envision television that engages with different platforms. Matías Walker and Fidel Espinoza welcomed the nominees.
Criticism came from two sides. Beatriz Sánchez, of the Broad Front, abstained. She did not question their credentials but complained that there had been no prior discussion: "I don't understand where these names come from," she said. She also alleged that the appointments reflected a division between two blocs that does not represent the current political landscape.
From the other side, Vanessa Kaiser, of the National Libertarian Party, alleged a lack of pluralism at TVN. Sabat and Huichalaf now take office for terms running until 2034, with the broadcaster's debt as their first challenge.
