Twenty years of the Private Television Law (1988/2008): changes and perspectives for the future of audiovisual legislation

Abstract

May 2008 marked the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Private Television Law in Spain. Th is is one of the legislative texts of Spanish democracy that has remained in effect the longest. It has undergone at least 22 changes, modifications, and eliminations that we will pick apart in the present analysis in order to develop an overall vision of Spanish audiovisual law following the entry of private operators into the sector, and with our sights set on the analog shutdown scheduled for April 2010.
This analysis will look at issues that remain to be solved or clarified either in the courts or in future legislation, as well as at the regulatory change that RTVE underwent in 2006. Although we will not deal directly with this regulatory change, it is another of the key points in television law.
The ensemble of precepts that have been incorporated into the Law of 1988 have affected such essential issues in the private television sector as advertising, programming of European and Spanish-language productions, the number of  channels permitted, «cross-ownership» of capital or control of television broadcasting corporations, and the obligation to invest in independent cinema.