Religious and psychic channels illegally occupy DTT

Almost half of the channels recorded and analyzed by the Audiovisual Council of Andalusia lack an administrative concession.

Religious channels compete with clairvoyance broadcasts in the illegal occupation of television frequencies.

The phenomenon of illegal occupation of DTT frequencies that the Audiovisual Council of Andalusia (CAA) has been confirming since 2010 that until now it focused almost exclusively on the broadcast of illegal content such as clairvoyance, erotic chats and pornography (already removed from the screens) or teleshopping spaces. However, the latest report has revealed a rise in religious channels of different faiths that have begun to occupy local television frequencies and account for 19% of these unlicensed broadcasts detected by the Council.

The Report on the content broadcast by television stations under the jurisdiction of the CAA in 2014 reveals a decrease in the invasion of free local DTT frequencies of six percentage points. Thus, 45% of the channels recorded and analyzed by the Council last year lacked an administrative concession, when in 2013 this percentage stood at 51%.

Most of these unlicensed operators (77%) broadcast live clairvoyance consultations, chat programs and teleshopping, and 4% broadcast general content. The fact that religious channels already represent 20% of this frequency occupancy is evidence, the CAA warns, that this phenomenon has ceased to be a one-time event and has become a trend. For this reason, it has agreed to carry out a monographic analysis of the content broadcast by these operators.

Among the religious channels captured is Córdoba Internacional TV which, in addition to purely religious and advertising content, broadcasts information, cultural and entertainment programs. This operator occupies free frequencies in Seville, Córdoba, Málaga and Granada. Of Saudi origin, Córdoba Internacional TV is one of the two Muslim channels that broadcasts in Spanish through the Hispasat 1C satellite in order to promote knowledge of Islam in Spain and Latin America.

Córdoba Internacional TV landed in Spain in 2012 and its website provides information on the development of agreements to exploit DTT licenses in the Community of Madrid. Three years ago, its representatives announced their intention to expand to the four Andalusian cities mentioned above, an objective that they have achieved through deeds.

Nazareno TV is another of the unlicensed religious television stations captured by the CAA. It is a Catholic channel with essentially religious programming although it includes sports programs, music programs, art spaces and advertising content that it broadcasts in the province of Malaga. Its website links to the official portal of the Vatican.

In Granada, Radio Televisión Vida broadcasts have been detected, of a varied nature although no informative spaces have been detected. This operator broadcasts its signal through DTT in other autonomous communities. This is an original audiovisual project from Murcia, promoted by the evangelical community with the intention of covering the south of Spain. The CAA has also cataloged the contents of TV Cristiana, an evangelical channel that also broadcasts exclusively religious and commercial programs in Granada.

Another of the signals detected belongs to Solidaria TV, with broadcasts in the provinces of Málaga and Granada. The information provided on its website indicates that this channel is implemented in 70 countries with the purpose of disseminating the work carried out by NGOs in the world and promoting Christianity. The audiovisual company is linked to Remar, an NGO dedicated to the social reintegration of drug addicts, which has a significant presence in Spain.

Along with these illegal broadcasts of a religious nature, the Council highlights in its report the appearance of local public and private channels without an administrative license that offer general programming, such as Cadena Indalo (Almería) and Perita TV, in Malaga. The case of Tarifa (Cádiz) is unique, since this council has not regularized its local television service, which, however, has been the subject of two complaints to the CAA Audience Defense Office for lack of pluralism and informative impartiality.

Measures to end pirate channels

The decision that accompanies this report reiterates the complexity that public administrations encounter in combating this television intrusion present in all autonomous communities, and which causes enormous damage to a sector especially punished by the economic and advertising crisis. The CAA, which reports all these unlicensed broadcasts to the General Directorate of Social Communication of the Junta de Andalucía, has proposed several measures to contribute to their eradication.

Some of these measures have been included in the Plan for the Management and Promotion of the Andalusian Audiovisual Sector (POISA), such as the modification of the regulation so that companies that contract advertising on these channels can be sanctioned, which would cut off their main source of financing, and prevent these operators from contracting radio and television signal transport and broadcasting services.

Private autonomous DTT

Regarding the content broadcast by private regional television stations in Andalusia, the analysis confirms the failure of the objectives foreseen in the implementation and development of DTT five years ago. These objectives involved promoting the Andalusian audiovisual sector thanks to the development of regional commercial television stations that ensured the citizen's right to receive plural communication.

On the other hand, what currently exists in this area since 2013 is a channel (EHS TV) where 73% of the broadcasts are teleshopping programs and the remaining 26% are clairvoyance and tarot clinics. These contents are broadcast on the frequency that was originally awarded to the Avista TV company.