Legal defeat for Telefónica, Orange and Vodafone
AUGUST 2, 2021 12.02 EUROPE/LONDON BY CHRIS DZIADUL

Spain’s National Court has rejected a bid by Telefónica, Orange and Vodafone to recover more than €1.6 billion they paid to help fund the public broadcaster RTVE.

El Pais reports that this is the latest in a series of defeats they have suffered in a long-running legal dispute following the withdrawal of adverting on RTVE in 2010.

Since then, they have been required to contribute 0.9% of their income to help finance the public broadcaster.

Both the Constitutional Court and EU’s Court of Justice have previously ruled against the three operators.