New Media Law A Source Of Considerable Distress

Michael Hedges June 3, 2022 - Follow on Twitter

To say media law is constantly evolving misses the reality. With newer technologies, business models and consumer preferences competing and conflicting at a bruising pace a bit of order is, to say, in order. For more than two decades this yearning for order has crashed into the stasis of rule making.

Two weeks ago the European Commission referred five Member States to the EU Court of Justice for failure to get on with transposing national law to conform with the revised Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive - Czech Republic, Ireland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain. The deadline for transposing these media rules was September 2020, two years after the revised Directive was transmitted to Member States. The first AVMS Directive arrived in 2007, essentially replacing the Television Without Frontiers directive from the last century. Other revisions popped up in 2010 and 2015. With each revision came long deliberation.

To keep the hungry Brussels wolves at bay, the Spanish Council of Ministers sent (May 26) a draft of the General Law on Audiovisual Communications, in deliberation since last December, to the two houses of parliament. Typically, hardly unique to Spain, politicians tacked on their favorite thoughts. The government of prime minister Pedro Sanchez thought they had a real winner. The Congress of Deputies (lower house) approved the measure with 130 MPs voting in favor, 83 against and 125 abstentions.

Then various segments of Spain’s media sector - along with civil society advocates - went bananas. The loudest roar came from those objecting to a troublesome new definition for independent media producers. The original draft defined independent producers as those not directly linked to major networks or platforms. That shifted in the revised text to “not working directly for,” opening the possibility for subsidiaries of big operators to get a piece of the pie.

And that sweet pie is the 5% of revenues large streaming platforms must contribute to European audiovisual productions, noted in the EU AVMS Directive. The Spanish amendment drew that a bit differently, requiring the lions share of that windfall going to independent producers in Spain. “Duty” to invest in national productions, as in the EC Directive, was changed to “obligation.” The new definition of independent producer is widely seen as a bonus to big media Telefonica, Altresmedia and Mediaset España to the detriment of smaller, often regional producers.

There was considerable displeasure from the Spanish production sector. “This law will allow the majority of this content, which will condition our way of seeing the world, to be decided by two companies, Mediaset and Atresmedia, helped by the algorithms of the streaming platforms,” said Audiovisual Producers Association of Spain (PATE) director general José Nevado on behalf of other independent producer groups, to El Pais (May 30). “Broadcasters favored by this law already have 14 television channels. You can only choose between two ways of seeing the world, those two media groups, which years ago took care that (public broadcaster) RTV would not have the budget to compete with them.”

The Spanish advertising people are also not happy. The new law “was born old,” said Spéanish Association of Advertisers (AEA) general director Lidia Sanz, quoted by media portalDircomfidential (June 1). Time of day restrictions on certain ad categories, like gambling and alcoholic beverages, have been tightened for both broadcast outlets and online platforms. Ads for e-cigarettes are now banned, like other tobacco products. "It does not represent the present and where the new times in communication are going,” Sra Sanz added. The advertising people are unhappy that restrictions on the amount of ads on broadcast outlets are slightly relaxed, saying it will lead to “viewers being fed up.”

Add to that, social media influencers with “significant income” will need to register to the list of Audiovisual Communication Service Providers and must comply with protection of minors statutes.

See also...

• Hot Topics - Media in Spain

• Hot Topics - European Commission