The reform of the public model and the future of CEMA, on the agenda of the new Government

The reform of public television, the renewal of part of the Board of Directors of the RTVE corporation, the rethinking of the State Council of Audiovisual Media and the solution of the conflict between radio stations and the Football League are some of the first issues that appear on the agenda of the Government that is sworn in today.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, as vice president and minister of the Presidency of the new Government, will play a key role in the development of the audiovisual sector in the near future since in the last legislature it was this ministry that assumed responsibility for audiovisual matters.

One of the first measures of the new Executive will be to apply a reform of the public television model that allows saving costs and applying new management models, which will foreseeably leave the option to the autonomous communities of allowing the entry of private capital into their regional television stations. President Rajoy already anticipated in his investiture speech before the Cortes that he would bring this reform to the Chambers with an "immediate nature."

It also remains to be seen how the Executive will deal with the General Law of Audiovisual Communication, in full regulatory development, and the ancient Third Channel Law that functions as a corset for the new public television models that are intended to be developed.

Spanish public television stations closed 2010 with losses of 536 million euros, 3 percent less than in 2009, which represented a net cost (with compensation for advertising revenue) for each Spanish household of 152 euros, 5.6 percent more than the previous year, according to the Fifth Economic Report on Public Television in Spain prepared by Deloitte and presented by Uteca at its last annual meeting.

Another issue that Rajoy promised to settle in the next quarter is the renewal of the Board of Directors of the RTVE Corporation. The State Public Radio and Television Law requires that the members of the council be elected with the support of two-thirds of Parliament and that half of its 12 members be replaced every three years, although at the moment PP and PSOE have not agreed to renew the council or to elect a president, vacant since Oliart resigned last July.

Also pending is the reform of the Telecommunications Market Commission (CMT) to integrate into this body the State Council of Audiovisual Media (CEMA), to which the Audiovisual Law, approved in 2010, attributes the function of supervising television stations to ensure that they comply with the child protection schedule, the maximum allowed advertising time and the rest of the limitations established by law. The PP completely opposed the creation of CEMA, considering it an unnecessary expense...

Another of the pending issues that the new Government must face is the solution to the conflict between the radio stations and the Professional Football League (LFP) due to the fee that this year the football clubs want to make the networks pay to enter the stadiums. Since Mariano Rajoy has left his position in favor of the free development of the informative work of radio stations, it is to be expected that the Government will promote a modification of the Audiovisual Law to make it clear that radio stations are not obliged to pay a fee for the right to broadcast, unlike what happens with television stations.

Industry and Culture

José Manuel Soria, at the head of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, will play a determining role in the restructuring of the spectrum after the digital dividend, facing a new 'digital dividend' plan. This plan establishes the steps that must be taken for television networks to change frequencies and free up the spectrum that mobile telephone operators will occupy in 2015.

As of January 1, 2015, the frequency band from 790 to 862 MHz will be reserved for services other than television, such as mobile broadband.

As for cinema, the refoundation of the Ministry of Culture with Education and Sports, with José Ignacio Wert at the helm, has been good news for producers. The Federation of Film Producers Associations (Fapae) has received the election of José Ignacio Wert as Minister of Culture as “an extraordinary appointment.”

The disappearance of a specific Ministry of Culture does not have to be negative. “Maybe it is a strong ministry with a minister with personality,” said Pedro Pérez, president of the Federation of Film Producers Associations (FAPAE).

“I have known him for a long time, he has personality and I am convinced that he will be a magnificent interlocutor for the world of cinema,” Pedro Pérez told Servimedia.