Spain’s new TV law under fire
May 26, 2022
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Spain’s independent producers have rebelled against the new TV law – currently under debate in Parliament – on the grounds that it will create a production duopoly in the market dominated by Atresmedia/Mediaset-linked companies to the detriment of independent producers.
A last-minute amendment to the law will enable major producers linked to the largest private TV groups to have access to state subsidies that were initially conceived to help smaller independent production companies in their business, reducing then their funds to create content and putting at risk their independent model.
Independent producers claim that if not corrected, their business will be ended in favour of the largest production companies, many of them managed by private TV groups Mediaset and Atresmedia.
The new law also obliges streamers (Netflix, HBO, Prime Video and Disney+, among others) to designate 5 per cent of their revenues to finance European TV content. Seventy per cent of that sum must be invested in independent productions in Spanish or in other co-official languages (Catalonian, Galician or Basque).