Spanish private TV Association UTECA – which represents the largest private TV groups in the country – wants new streaming operators in the market, such as Netflix, to finance and financially support the pubcaster RTVE and the production of Spanish films complying with the same obligations as the current private broadcasters.

To this end, UTECA has urged the Government to reform and update the TV law to put them (the new operators) at the same level than the traditional private broadcasters with the same obligations: financing RTVE and Spanish cinema, meeting the advertising and content limits.

Currently, private FTA TV broadcaters, pay TV platforms and telco operators are obliged to finance RTVE with a 3 per cent, 1.5 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively, of their revenues. Current broadcasters are paying 5 per cent to finance the production of Spanish and European films. Since 1999, private broadcasters have invested over €2 billion in cinema production.

“We understand that a review of the requested conditions for alternative distribution platforms, DTT direct competitors, must be made in terms of audience ratings, acquisition of content and advertising market,,” said Alejandro Echevarria, President of UTECA.

In his opinion, the obligations “both financially and operationally” must be the same (for all operators in the market) to avoid discrimination and set up an equal framework in the treatment of all content distributors, both FTA and pay-TV.

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