The Government presents to a new public audience the Preliminary Draft General Law on Audiovisual Communication

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation presents the Preliminary Draft General Law on Audiovisual Communication again to a public audience, to incorporate contributions received in the previous hearing process held last December and as a result of an intense consultative process with the different public and private agents involved.

The regulation transposes the European Audiovisual Communication Services Directive of 2018 into Spanish law and updates the legislation to the reality of the market, in which new agents have emerged and where new audiovisual services promoted by digital technologies have been developed.

Among the main innovations included in the Preliminary Draft Law with respect to the previous text that was submitted to a public hearing is the modification of Law 8/2009 of financing of the Spanish Radio and Television Corporation. The text establishes that the financing of RTVE is made with contributions from all the agents present in the audiovisual market that compete for the same audience: linear television in open, linear television for payment, on-demand video providers and video exchange platforms.

The contribution must be made both by those providers who are established in Spain and those who are in another country of the European Union, provided that they offer their services in Spain.

In this way, a further step is taken to establish a balanced playing field for all players in the sector and for everyone to have the same obligations. Likewise, the direct contribution made by telecommunications operators, for the part of their business that does not correspond to the audiovisual activity, is eliminated.

In addition, new revenue streams are enabled for RTVE. The public entity may monetize certain forms of advertising, for example, sponsorships or advertising on its international channels and digital content. It will also allow the insertion of advertising in the RTVE channels in platforms for the exchange of user-generated videos or digital functionalities that allow access to their contents after their linear broadcast.

Promotion of European audiovisual work

The new text of the Preliminary Draft General Law on Audiovisual Communication strengthens the promotion of European audiovisual works in independent producer works, increasing investment obligations. The providers who are obliged must comply with the following two obligations, the percentages of which do not add up to each other.

The first is to allocate 3.5% to audiovisual works, in any format, of independent producer that must also be carried out in the official language of the State or in any of the official languages of the Autonomous Communities. This percentage represents an increase over the current 0.9%.

The second is to allocate 2% to the financing of independent producer cinema, which must also be carried out in the official language of the State or in one of the official languages of the Autonomous Communities. This obligation was already included in the text of the first hearing and represents an increase over the current 1.8%.

With regard to the definition of independent producer, the text submitted to the first hearing, which considers as independent producer anyone who is not business-related to an audiovisual media service provider obliged to comply with the obligation to finance European audiovisual works, is retained.

This system has allowed the development of an audiovisual market in Spain of high value and quality that has achieved great recognition at international level.

Gender Equality

With regard to gender equality, respect for equality and non-discrimination on the basis of gender is explicitly stated. The text incorporates the promotion of self-regulation codes that protect users against content that may violate women’s dignity or promote sexist, discriminatory or stereotyped values.

In addition, the new third additional provision provides for the promotion of the production of audiovisual works directed or produced by women through calls for aid from the Film and Audiovisual Protection Fund.

Finally, the promotion and dissemination of audiovisual works directed or created exclusively by women has been included among the measures of the Triennial Plan for the Promotion of the Audiovisual Sector referred to in Article 149.

Accessibility

In order to promote accessibility to audiovisual content for all citizens, it is promoted that there is a greater offer of accessible content. On the one hand, the percentage of accessible content that providers have to guarantee is increased and, on the other, new providers are included in this obligation, such as linear pay-TV providers and on-demand services.

Child protection

With regard to the protection of minors, the zone of reinforced protection of the afternoon is taken up in the audiovisual television communication service in open, given the recognition and extension of its use by users.

With regard to the advertising of alcoholic beverages, it is prohibited to specifically target minors, and give the impression that their consumption contributes to social or sexual success, or relates it to ideas or behaviors that express personal, family, social, sports or professional success.

The schedule for television advertising of alcoholic beverages of less than 20º is maintained as in the current legislation and may be broadcast between 20:30 and 5:00. The advertising of drinks with more than 20º can only be broadcast in the range of 1:00 to 5:00 in the morning, in line with what is established for play, esotericism and paraciences.

The hearing will remain open until Monday, July 12 at 9:00h. The full text of the preliminary draft law can be consulted here.

The General Law of Audiovisual Communication is one of the reforms included in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, in the component “Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe”. The Plan recognizes the strategic importance of the audiovisual sector and includes investments and reforms whose ultimate objective is to improve the attractiveness of Spain as a European platform for business, work and investment in the audiovisual field.