The cult show “Squaring the Circle” stops being broadcast on RTS after almost 25 years. Branko Stanković, the author of the well-known show, tells Danas that he is not retiring, and that Kvadratura kruga will continue if there are interested “normal” television stations.
Stanković explains to Danas that he was offered the option of severance pay, and that this is the reason for the interruption of the broadcast of Kvadratura kruga.
“I did not work under a work contract, I was in an employment relationship, and it was an author’s show produced by RTS. I was offered the option of severance pay. I submitted a request because I wanted to buy the apartment that I use under the lease of RTS. I was issued a bill of 61,000 euros for a 37-square-meter apartment, without any concessions,” says Stanković.
He adds that there is no other way to provide such money, except to provide at least part of it through severance pay.
“Regarding the current situation at RTS, I can only say: may God help them. I have no reason to say anything else at this moment, because I have not finished this whole process yet,” emphasizes Stanković.
For now, he does not know if “Squaring the Circle” will be broadcast on another television, but he does not rule out this option.
“If serious television stations are interested, there is no reason not to continue the show, because it is an author’s project. I am not retiring yet, it is not the time for that. I still have strength, will and ideas, so if there are interested television stations, I am ready to continue with the show. Tomorrow the last show is broadcast on RTS, we will see what the future brings,” says Stanković.
Let us remind you that Branko Stanković is one of the few employees of RTS who publicly supported the students. Stanković was among the first to come forward and support the faculty blockades and the student movement in December 2024. Then he told the students:
“Dear students, you are the pride of this country and one of the few bright spots in this general darkness, in which many are wandering around looking for a way out.
In a country where everything is collapsing, you, along with your professors, are the supporting pillars and the strongest armature that prevents everything from collapsing in this suffering country. You are the hope that at least a grain of morality, honor and integrity is left in Serbia, which all these years, through my work, I have been trying to raise and put as a measure of duration and life. Remain what you are: honorable, incorruptible, yourself and self-aware, because only in this way will you be able to build your future and your lives with integrity.”
During the student blockade of RTS, Stanković pointed out that “there is no filming while some colleagues call the people a mob”, implying the then host and now editor of the public service news program Bojana Mlađenović.
Branko Stanković was also a participant in the “Serbia against violence” protest, which took place after the May 2023 tragedies – mass murders in Ribnikar and Mladenovac. Two years earlier, in the midst of environmental protests, Stanković dedicated the show Square of the Circle to Rio Tinto.
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