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UTECA requests ad limits for pay-TV

January 11, 2016

From David Del Valle in Madrid

The Spanish Private TV Association, UTECA, has urged the government to impose advertising limits on pay-TV operators similar to those on FTA networks.

With the expansion of pay-TV and the increasing appeal of pay TV operators, UTECA – which represents the interests of the main FTA channels in the country – has demanded tougher regulation for pay-TV providers in line with the limits that FTA channels have to face regarding the acquisition of content or, more specifically, as for advertising time limits.

UTECA is campaigning for a major review of the current TV law (approved in 2010) to apply the same rules to FTA and pay TV operators and to provide stability to the DTT market. “With the arrival of new players directly competing with DTT networks for audience, content and advertising, it seems reasonable to review the rules applying to these new operators”, said UTECA.

The Association argues that currently pay TV operators can offer better conditions to advertisers for the lack of limits. In addition, the pay-TV audience has rocketed over the past year with pay-TV making on average more than 6.5 million viewers and a 7 per cent audience share.

“Free-to-air TV is at the centre of Spain’s audiovisual industry, generating more than €5.5 billion per year and employing almost 80,000 people,” UTECA concluded.

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