Urgent measures to boost digital terrestrial TV and open up cable

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. It changes radio ownership limits: the same person or company may not control more than 50% of the licenses that substantially overlap in their coverage area, nor more than five licenses in the same area, nor more than one third of all licenses with state-wide or partial state coverage. These limits apply separately to digital and analog radio.
2. It removes the three-license limit that applied to private television and extends the period for holding simultaneous stakes in a state-wide analog TV company and a digital one until analog broadcasts end, as set in the national digital terrestrial TV plan.
3. It reforms local television: municipalities and island administrations may directly manage programs (at least one per coverage area, two for island administrations, and exceptionally a second municipal one), corporations that did not choose direct management may join later with approval from the autonomous community, and licenses go from five to a maximum of 10 years, renewable for another 10. No one may hold more than one license per coverage area.
4. It allows new authorizations for cable radio and television services once the regulation provided for in the General Telecommunications Law comes into force, opening up a previously restricted service to competition.
5. It requires newly built or fully renovated buildings to have a common telecommunications infrastructure able to capture and distribute radio and TV signals, both analog and digital, and satellite signals, as well as provide access to telephone and cable services.
6. It adds mandates for the Government: guarantee accessibility of digital TV for people with disabilities, promote the use of official languages in digital regional channels, plan provincial and island opt-outs, plan new local coverage areas, and return by law radio or TV licenses from companies that fail to launch the channel within a set period. The Government must also present, within six months, a bill setting out the public statute of local television stations.

Who it affects

• Radio stations and their owners: New limits on owning and controlling licenses, applied separately to digital and analog broadcasting.
• Private TV broadcasters: The three-license limit is gone, and they can keep simultaneous stakes in analog and digital TV until analog broadcasts end.
• Municipalities and island administrations: They can directly manage local digital TV programs and request to join direct management later.
• Autonomous communities: They grant local TV licenses, decide the programs reserved for local entities, and have until December 31, 2005 to do so.
• Developers and building owners: New or fully renovated buildings must include a common telecommunications infrastructure ready for digital signals.

Words worth knowing

Concesión administrativa

An official permit granted by the Administration to a company to run a public service, such as a radio or TV station.

Canal múltiple

A block of frequencies that allows several digital TV programs to be broadcast at the same time.

Demarcación

A specific territory, such as a municipality or a group of municipalities, assigned a local TV service.

Infraestructura común de telecomunicaciones

Antennas and cables installed in a building to capture and distribute radio, TV, telephone and internet signals to each apartment or unit.

Desconexión provincial o insular

Broadcasting different programming in each province or island within the same TV channel.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries