José Pablo López has been appointed as the president of Spain public broadcaster RTVE. His inauguration will take place on December 2nd.

Until March 2024 he served as Director of General Content at the public broadcaster, but the controversial recruitment of comedian David Broncano to lead the late night talk show La Recuelta led to his departure. The former president, Elena Sánchez, dismissed him following months of tension and disagreements. Minutes later, she was also removed from her top position by the majority of board members, resulting in a rotating and interim presidency assumed by Concepción Cascajosa.

López first joined RTVE in May 2022 during the presidency of José Manuel Pérez Tornero, replacing Amalia Martínez de Velasco, who was dismissed after less than a year. He was responsible for the General Content area of TVE, RNE, and RTVE Digital. During his tenure, López oversaw La 1 becoming the second most-watch channel among Spanish audiences, surpassing Telecinco and surpassing a 10 per cent share, with content such as soap opera La promesa and the return of game show Grand Prix, although public radio was less beneficial under his leadership, seeing its worst ever figures (according to the EGM) in terms of listeners.

Previously López was also general director of RTVM (2017-2021), elected through public competition by the company’s Board of Directors and ratified by the Madrid Assembly without any vote against. He was also the head of Trece TV (2010-2016), as well as director of the legal department and deputy to the general management of La Sexta (2005-2010).