UTECA requests the definitive assignment of the digital multiplex

The president of UTECA, Alejandro Echevarría, at the annual conference of the private television employers' association, has requested the definitive allocation of the digital multiplex "whose costs must be fully assumed by the Administration." In addition, it has requested the mandatory incorporation of clauses guaranteeing protection against interference to adjacent television channels in the 790-862 MHz band.

The president of UTECA, Alejandro Echevarría, has declared that after the merger of Telecinco and Cuatro, new concentration agreements should not be ruled out. In his speech at the UTECA 2010 Annual Conference held this Monday in Madrid, delivered before the first vice president of the Government and Minister of the Interior, Al Fredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the president of the private television employers' association described the elimination of advertising on RTVE as a “true historical milestone” and added that it was “the great news for the Spanish audiovisual sector, both public and private.”

In Echevarría's opinion, "this substantial modification of the advertising offer on television has meant for the private sector that the recovery of results in the first months of 2010 has been positive for the companies, also helped by the change in trend in the evolution of advertising investment. And the distortion produced in the market by the competition of the public operator, which in recent years had marked a downward trend in cost/GRP. From 2011, costs/GRP have been progressively situated at levels more in line with other surrounding countries.”

Echevarría has stated that it would be necessary for regional public broadcasters to "come out of public budgets and be financed with a fee. It is not understood that a digital fee has been established to subsidize private copyright management entities and, on the contrary, that politicians do not dare to create one that finances public television."

The president of UTECA has declared that "we find ourselves in a turbulent time in the Spanish economy. The uncertainty about the deadlines in which the recovery will be established in our country supposes, among other aspects, an extraordinary volatility in the markets that value companies and, especially, in those operated by companies with interests in the television sector." "One piece of information better illustrates what I mean: television companies are worth today on the stock market half of what they were worth a little over three years ago. In any case, the members of UTECA believe that the worst moments for the sector have been overcome. For the first time in three years, the main companies present, in general terms, better results in the first results in the first nine months of the year, which is reflected in the improvement of almost 50% in the combined results of the listed television companies," he assured.

Digital dividend

For Alejandro Echevarría, “the audiovisual sector has a large number of challenges ahead,” among which he cited the stabilization and consolidation of the audiovisual production sector, in his opinion atomized and not very internationalized; the end of mandatory investment in cinema and the improvement, through self-regulation, of support for film production; the definitive rationalization of copyright management, both in costs and operationally; the extension of the measures applied in national public television to publicly owned regional and municipal television stations; and the rationalization of the channel offering, which will help the implementation of DTT have the expected technological impact and an improvement in the audience experience thanks to HD and 3D.

Finally, Echevarría has requested the definitive allocation of the digital multiplex "whose costs must be assumed entirely by the Administration, without Brussels being able to argue that they are state aid." In addition, it has requested "the mandatory incorporation of clauses guaranteeing protection against interference to adjacent television channels in the tenders for the allocation of the 790-862 MHz band for electronic communications services; the defense at all costs of the radio spectrum of hertzian televisions, threatened by telecommunications companies, and ending the advertising limitation imposed by the EU on the private sector, something inexplicable in the 21st century, with countless systems and channels of television.”

Regional and local

Luis Jiménez, partner at Deloitte, responsible for the Media Industry in Spain and Europe, in the presentation of the IV Economic Report on public TV in Spain on the occasion of this day, highlighted that "despite reducing operating costs by 4%, in 2009, the net cost per household of public television in Spain amounted to 144 euros, 11% more than the previous year, as a result of the profound drop in advertising."

For his part, Silvio González, CEO of Antena 3, focused his speech this day on the situation of public television stations that, in his opinion, resort to the advertising and rights market, “distorting the market and closing an absurd circle.” The regional governments as a whole have a budget of over 1,860 million euros, with an accumulated debt of 1,480 million euros and an amount of aid and subsidies that amounts to 814 million euros. Given these figures, González has assured that "since we have all tightened in this economic situation, so do the regional governments. The time has come to act. Public television has lost too many opportunities to adapt to reality with a clearly commercial line of action, and distorting the market. Now it is time to solve this distortion, as has happened in RTVE, both at the regional and local levels. Their problem is not their income, but the lack of efficiency measures and spending control."

González has recognized that despite the advances experienced in the market, part of the path has been retraced, which is why we must put an end to an ineffective and distorting model, for which we are willing to open the avenues of collaboration that are necessary."
Silvio González has pointed out with respect to mergers in the sector that the only operation that has occurred in Spain at the moment is that of Telecinco and Cuatro, "so everything else is fiction." Regarding the decision of the National Competition Commission (CNC) regarding the merger of Telecinco and Cuatro and the entry of the Mediaset and Telefónica network into Digital+, González has described it as “surprising” anticipating that the resulting group will have a “possible position of content abuse.”

El consejero delegado de Vocento, José Manuel Vargas, ha reflexionado sobre el nuevo entorno de la televisión digital que está convirtiendo a los operadores de televisión en plataformas de distribución multicanal y multiplataforma. Esto se está produciendo al mismo tiempo que los medios tradicionales, como la radio o la prensa escrita, están entrando en el negocio de los contenidos audiovisuales. “Aparecen nuevos competidores fuera o en paralelo a los tradicionales grupos de comunicación. Y además, irrumpen con fuerza los contenidos generados por el usuario y la aparición de nuevos dispositivos y servicios como el vídeo on demand para acceder a contenidos. Ante esto, el sector de la televisión, que viene tradicionalmente de un oligopolio basado en licencias, deberá evolucionar hacia un entorno de libre competencia con nuevos actores que entran en casa gracias a la eclosión de la banda ancha”, ha asegurado Vargas.

The keys, according to José Manuel Vargas, are to assume that the future is audiovisual for all media, with the consequent competition; get the most out of the brand; and know users by defining strategies and business models. “Business models must be reviewed in the face of the fall in entry barriers with multi-support strategies,” he concluded.