Media System of Spain report by our correspondent Prof. Dr. Julian Rodriguez Pardo (University of Extramadura) for the Study on Co-Regulation Measures in the Media Sector Study commissioned by the European Commission, Directorate Information Society Unit A1 Audiovisual and Media Policies, Digital Rights, Task Force on Coordination of Media Affairs DG EAC 03/04 This report is part of the research which has been done for the study on “Co-Regulation Meas- ures in the Media Sector”. The Study is commissioned by the European Commission, Direc- torate Information Society, Unit A1 Audiovisual and Media Policies, Digital Rights, Task Force on Coordination of Media Affairs (Tender No. DG EAC 03/04). The above study aims at providing a complete picture of co-regulatory measures taken to date in the media sector in all 25 Member States and in three non-EU-countries, as well as of the research already done. The study will especially indicate the areas in which these measures mainly apply, their effects and their consistency with public interest objectives. In this con- text, the study will examine how best to ensure that the development of national co- and self- regulatory models does not disturb the functioning of the single market by re-fragmenting the markets. This study started at the end of December 2004, the final report will be compiled by the end of December 2005. More information on the study can be found at http://co-reg.hans-bredow-institut.de All rights reserved. The European Commission or its contracting entity, the HBI or the EMR are not liable for the contents of the report. In doubt viewpoints expressed in the report are purely personal and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating as an official position of the European Commission, HBI, EMR or the organisation the correspondent works for. If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact the contractor of the study Hans-Bredow-Institute for media research (HBI) Heimhuder Str. 21 D- 20148 Hamburg [email protected] / http://www.hans-bredow-institut.de or the sub-contractor, who is responsible for coordinating and organizing the research in the EU Member States: Institute of European Media Law (EMR) Nell-Breuning-Allee 6 D-66115 Saarbrücken [email protected] / http://www.emr-sb.de Hamburg, 13 May 2005 Spain Introduction1 General overview Placed on southwest Europe, with a territory of 504.750 thousand km², at the end 2004 Spain had a population of 43.197.684 million people, from which 34.474.000 are over 16 years old; for 2002 the percentage of illiteracy was 3.1% of the population and 11.3% had no scholar education at all. Its Gross Domestic Product2 was 2.7% for 2004. The contribution of the telecommunications and advertising industries to the GDP has increased, in 2004, 6.8% and 4.9%, respectively.3 In respect of politics and administrative organization, The spanish Constitution of 19784 consolidated a democratic political system after 36 years of General Francisco Franco dictatorship. The Kingdom of Spain is a parliamentary monarchy, with a central government and central public administration, but is also divided in 17 regions, each with its own regional government, as well as in 49 provinces. Each city, town and medium size village has its own council. Since 1 January 1986 Spain belongs to the European Union and last 20 February 2005, by national referendum, the EU Constitution was approved. Overview of the market The three main subsectors of the media market are printing press, and analogical hertzian radio and television broadcasting: there are more than 200 daily general information newspapers; 1 national radio and television corporation; 9 public regional radio and television corporations; 3 national commercial television channels; more than 33 radio networks –either national, regional or local-; and more than 800 local television broadcasters.5 The daily newspapers increased 1% their market in 2004, with 4.07 million copies sold; generalist programming radio broadcasters achieved between February and November 2004, 11.466.000 million listeners/day, while thematic radio broadcasters got 10.187.000 million listeners/day; for 2004 the average time of television viewing achieved 239 minutes 1 All the national laws, regulatory provisions, names of institutions and professional bodies, and title of ethical codes have been translated into English; their original names and titles appear once in the footnotes in order to be easily reached through the Internet or any other mean. 2 Producto Interior Bruto, PIB. 3 Data from the National Statistics Institute –Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas- web page, Hhttp://www.ine.esH. 4 Constitucion Espanola 1978. 5 From the official governmental agenda of the media, Hhttp://www.la-moncloa.esH; however, there is not an official census of the spanish media, specially because of the undetermined number of local broadcasters. 1 person/day, and for the first time in history, a national commercial television channel –Tele 5- became leader of the year, with a share of 22.1%.6 A general view on the new technologies market shows that for 2004, 32.9% of the population surfs the Web, although only 25.2% of homes have a connection to Internet; 38% of Internet users declare to have security problems when navigating the Web.7 In respect of the advertising market, interactive media consolidated themselves in 2004 with an investment of 94.5 million euros, which meant a growth of 30.3%; while the general increase of the advertising sector was of an average of 6.9%, and still represent the 47.9% of the total market.8 An average of 13 million people/month went to the cinema in Spain during 2004, which left a taking of more than 690 million euros; in respect of the video/dvd market, the data refer to 2003 and show a general taking of more than 772 million euros, from which 567 belong to dvd renting and buying.9 Constitutional foundations Article 20 of the spanish Constitution of 1978 settles the main legal principles in respect of public mass media functioning, freedom of information and freedom of expression, as well as their limits:10 “1. The following rights are recognized and protected: a) the right to freely express and disseminate thoughts, ideas and opinions by word, in writing or by any other means of communication; b) the right to literary, artistic, scientific and technical production and creation; c) the right to academic freedom; d) the right to freely communicate or receive accurate information by any means of dissemination whatsoever. The law shall regulate the right to invoke personal conscience and professional secrecy in the exercise of these freedoms. 2. The exercise of these rights may not be restricted by any form of prior censorship. 3. The law shall regulate the organization and Parliamentary control of the social communications media under the control of the State or any public agency and shall guarantee access to such media to the main social and political groups, respecting the pluralism of society and of the various languages of Spain. 6 Data from the professional journal Noticias de la Comunicacion, january 2005, Hhttp://www.noticom.esH; and General Media Study –Estudio General de Medios-, january 2005, Hhttp://www.aimc.esH. 7 Data from Telecommunications and Information Society Observatory -Observatorio de las Telecomunicaciones y la Sociedad de la Información-, march 2005, Hhttp://www.red.esH. 8 Data from 2004 year reports of PriceWaterhouseCoopers-IAB Spain, and Infoadex, Hhttp://www.pwc.esH and Hhttp://www.infoadex.esH. 9 Data from the Ministery of Culture -Ministerio de Cultura- web page, march 2005, Hhttp://www.mcu.esH. 10 Art.10: “(…) 2. The principles relating to the fundamental rights and liberties recognized by the Constitution shall be interpreted in conformity with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international treaties and agreements thereon ratified by Spain”. 2 4. These freedoms are limited by respect for the rights recognized in this Title, by the legal provisions implementing it, and especially by the right to honour, to privacy, to personal reputation and to the protection of youth and childhood. 5. The confiscation of publications and recordings and other information media may only be carried out by means of a court order”. Article 38 regulates the bases of the economical system: “Free enterprise is recognized within the framework of a market economy. The public authorities shall guarantee and protect its exercise and the safeguarding of productivity in accordance with the demands of the economy in general and, as the case may be, of its planning”. Finally, due to the political and administrative organization of the country, with a central government, regional governments and city councils, Art.149 must be considered, as it refers to the transfer of some jurisdiction competences to regional and local administrations, including commercial, intellectual property, and press, radio and television regulation. These competences, taken to the mass media sector, have mainly come to some regulation measures on: audiovisual independent authorities (co-regulation), establishment of regional public radio and television corporations, organization and control over local radio and television stations, as well as some measures on specifics of commercial communications. General media concentration and mergers rules Although some specific rules have been promoted for the audiovisual subsector, the general provision on the issue came in 1989 with the Competition Act 16/1989 of