European commission to probe funding of Spain’s state broadcaster
The European commission is to investigate a new funding system for Spain's state broadcaster, RTVE, which recently renounced advertising in favour of an industry-wide levy. Free-to-air commercial broadcasters must now give 3 percent of their revenue to RTVE, which has three free-to-air channels, including a 24-hour rolling news service, as well as a network of radio stations and international channels. Pay-TV operators must pay a levy of 1.5 percent while telecommunications operators pay 0.9 percent. That funding is topped up by 80 percent of the money the state receives for radio licences and a direct government grant that is meant to cover the remaining 45 percent of RTVE's budget.
The new funding scheme is accompanied by restrictions on how RTVE spends the money, as the government of the prime minister, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, tries to turn it away from commercial programming towards more public service broadcasting. RTVE must limit its purchase of new films and cannot spend more than 10 percent of its annual budget on sports rights. The European commission welcomed the move away from advertising but it is worried that an industry tax may be illegal. The EC is already investigating a similar model which is being phased in to fund France's public broadcaster, France Télévisions.