Spain’s government has launched a public consultation on a new version of its General Law on Audiovisual Communication that would see OTT video streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, HBO, Disney+ and others contribute to the funding of state broadcaster RTVE via a 1.5 percent tax on their annual incomes. If approved, telecommunications operators with pay-TV platforms such as Telefonica, Orange, Vodafone and Masmovil would no longer have to contribute.
Under the current funding model, which came into force in 2009, telecom operators are required to pay 0.9 percent of their gross revenues to finance the ad-free public radio and TV broadcaster, while free-to-air commercial broadcasters pay 3 percent of their revenues and pay-TV providers 1.5 percent. However, the preliminary draft of the new General Audiovisual Communication law would exempt telecom operators from the 1.5 percent obligation and replace them with OTT operators who provide services in Spain. According to a report in Expansion, this could even include companies such as TikTok.
A public consultation on the draft will last until 12 July but the law is unlikely to come into force until the first half of 2022, according to a report in Cinco Dias. Spain’s telecom operators have long argued that the way in which RTVE is funded is unconstitutional and damaging to their business and even appealed the current funding model to the country's Supreme Court.
