San Sebastián, September 22, 2024.- The Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Service, Óscar López, has confirmed that the audiovisual sector will have an additional 1.5 billion euros in financial instruments in a new phase of the ‘Spain Audiovisual Hub of Europe Plan’.

“In Spain we have always had talent. Almodóvar, Buñuel, Víctor Erice, Carla Simón, Pilar Miró, or many and many others. What was missing was the resources, the determined momentum. What was missing was a government committed to the audiovisual”, he said at the conference ‘Alliances and investments for the consolidation of the European audiovisual ecosystem’, organized by the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures within the framework of the San Sebastian International Film Festival (SSIFF).

During the two round tables held, prominent personalities of the sector have shared the challenges of the European audiovisual and the necessary responses to the digital adaptation of this industry. “You, the audiovisual industry, are the ones who know the challenges and the challenges of the sector. What I promise to do is to have the door open for you, so that we can all succeed together. This Government is committed to the industrial importance of the sector; but not only to the industrial one: you are key in generating values and changing attitudes. We live a great moment of the audiovisual in our country and what we have to do together is get it right to continue growing,” added López.

“Employment in the audiovisual sector has increased by 93% in the last three years, we have practically doubled production from producing 45 series a year in 2018 to 85 in 2022, and Spain today leads the investment of platforms in original European content among EU countries,” he continued.

The management of this second package of the Audiovisual Hub Plan with 1,500 million euros in financial instruments from the addendum of the Recovery Plan will fall to the SETT (Spanish Society for Technological Transformation).

The audiovisual as an industrial sector

This meeting has influenced the treatment of the audiovisual as a first-class industrial sector. It was opened by the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures, María González Veracruz, responsible for the design and execution of the Spain Audiovisual Hub of Europe Plan promoted by the Government of Spain.

Then, the panel ‘Alliances for the production of European audiovisual content in a global environment’ was held, which was analyzed by the interim president of RTVE, Concepción Cascajosa, the executive producer of Arcadia Motion Pictures, Sandra Tapia, the executive producer of Noodles Production, Jérôme Vidal, the general director of Portocabo, Alfonso Blanco, and the general secretary of Nordvision (Nordic 12), Arne Helsingen, with the moderation of Henar Audio, head of innovation and grants.

For its part, the second table has dealt with “The new models of business growth in the European audiovisual sector”, with the participation of Javier Valero, director of Strategic Development and Transformation Secuoya Content Group; Javier Ponce, director of Sociedad Española for Technological Transformation (SETT); María Coronado, director of the business area of the Cultural Sector in Triodos Bank; Jaime Gutiérrez-Colomer, director general of Management and Transformation of Atresmedia, and Alexandra Lebret. General director of the European Producers Club, having moderated the dialogue Alberto Sanz Serrano, Director of Financing and Investor Relations of Icex-Invest in Spain.