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The Audiencia Nacional (High Court) held that the acquisition by Telefónica of a 25% stake in the private broadcaster Antena 3 TV was lawful. This operation took place in July 1997, and was authorised by the Ministerio de Fomento (Ministry of Development). The authorisation granted by the Ministerio de Fomento was challenged in court by the Spanish media group PRISA , which has joint control, together with Canal Plus , of the Spanish private broadcaster Sogecable . The High Court has been asked for the first time to establish the precise meaning of the provisions of the 1988 Private Television...

On 23 July 1999 the Spanish Government approved a Decree on the National Technical Plan on Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), in order to establish DAB services in Spain. A Ministerial Order on the provision of DAB services was approved on the same day. The legal basis of these provisions is the Forty-fourth Additional Provision of Law 66/1997 of 30 December 1997, which refers to the possible introduction of new digital terrestrial radio and digital terrestrial television services. DAB will not substitute for the existing analogue radio services so there is no `switch-off' date. The Decree on the...

Two major developments related to Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV) have recently taken place in Spain: - Firstly, the government has awarded a concession for the provision of digital terrestrial TV at national level. The concession has been granted to Onda Digital, whose main shareholder, with a 49% stake, is Retevisión, the second Spanish telecom operator, and also owner of the network currently used for the transmission of terrestrial TV signals and of stakes in several cable companies. Other shareholders of Onda Digital are the British media group Carlton (which participates in the British DTTV...

The Spanish Parliament has approved an Act amending the provisions of the 1995 Spanish Criminal Code that regulate sex-related crimes. The final text of the Act mainly coincides with the text of the bill presented by the Government in 1997. According to the new version of Art. 189 (1) (b) of the Spanish Criminal Code, the production, sale, distribution and exhibition of pornographic material in which children have participated shall be punished with one to three years' imprisonment, even if the material has been taken from abroad or if its origin is unknown. The possession of materials of this...

The Spanish Parliament has finally approved an Act incorporating the revised "Television Without Frontiers" Directive into Spanish Law. This Act amends Law 25/1994, which implemented the original "Television Without Frontiers" Directive. The new Act introduces some important amendments: - According to the new Art. 2 of Law 25/1994, the provisions of this law shall apply to terrestrial, satellite and cable TV, and to all public and private broadcasters. Until now, Law 25/1994 did not apply to thematic channels distributed via satellite, and only a few of its provisions applied to the programmes...