Spain’s private TV stations oppose ‘digital dividend’

Iñaki Ferreras | 08-11-2012

Spain’s private TV stations have rejected the Government's current ‘digital dividend’ plan at the meeting of the Advisory Council of Telecommunications and Information Society of the Ministry of Industry (CATSI).

At the meeting, held on Wednesday, private television stations nationwide expressed "absolute rejection" of the draft Royal Decree regulating the process of release of the digital dividend.

Mediaset España, Grupo Planeta’s Antena 3, Unidad Editorial’s Veo TV and Vocento’s Net TV believe that the process threatens the public’s continued reception of free TV channels. They also are against the requirement for the public to bear the cost of the necessary new antennas for their homes.

Last August, the Government and televisions reached an agreement by which, according UTECA, "they agreed to reduce their technical capacity of government-guaranteed issuance and security in the continued receipt of their channels".