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The proposal for a Spanish Audiovisual Act was approved on 16 October 2009 by the Spanish government. If signed into law, the bill will revoke fourteen standards and regulations related to the radio, television and telecommunications industries. Among others, these include the acts that have regulated private commercial channels and the local television channels of the Spanish autonomous communities from 1988 and 1983 respectively. Composed of sixty articles, the most important aspects of this bill are the following: - The new law tries to provide added protection for minors. It forbids the broadcasting...

The draft law reforming the funding of the national public service broadcaster, the RTVE Corporation, presented to the Parliament in May 2009, was passed in August, after amendments were debated and considered during the summer (see IRIS 2009-8: 11). Law 8/2009 on the funding of the Spanish Radio and Television Corporation eliminates advertising as a source of income, instead proposing a new financial equilibrium to be achieved mainly through State subsidy and three different types of taxes. It also imposes additional public service obligations on RTVE. The corporation will continue to derive revenue...

On 13 August 2009, the Spanish Government approved a Decree Law that allows Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV) providers to introduce pay-TV services. According to the new provision, the concessionaires of the national DTTV services will be able to allocate, fully or partially, one of their DTTV programmes to the provision of pay-TV services, provided their concessions entitle them to manage more than one DTTV programme. The approval of this provision has been very controversial, mainly for formal reasons. The Government intended to approve the introduction of pay-DTTV services by means of a Decree,...

In May 2009, a draft law reforming the funding of the Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (RTVE), the national public service broadcaster, was presented to the Spanish Parliament. The original text, approved by the Cabinet (see IRIS 2009-6: 10), included the elimination of advertising on Televisión Española (TVE) and proposed a new financial equilibrium that would be achieved through State subsidy and income originating from three different types of taxes: an existing one on the use of spectrum frequencies, and two new ones, to be paid by national commercial broadcasters (both pay and free-to-air)...

Despite the current economic situation, economic aids to Spanish cinema will increase. Specifically, Ignasi Guardians, who recently assumed the management of the Instituto de la Cinematografia y de las Artes Audiovisuales (Spanish Film Institute - ICAA) has decided to increase economic aids to Spanish cinema by EUR 8.6 million. It is striking that, only six months after the initial fixation of these subsidies, they are increased in such a manner, particularly given the worldwide economic crisis, which has caused a strain on the general budget. It is worth highlighting that the Fondo de Protección...