A bill has been introduced in the Spanish Parliament containing an in-depth reform of media law. Amongst the many points subject to reform are the rules on television advertising. Some of the reforms have been expected for a long time; some are a relative surprise.
Among the most relevant are: the Media bill recognizes the right to create channels devoted to commercial communications and self-promotional programs. Media operators are also entitled to broadcast advertising, teleshopping, TV promotion, programmes containing product placement and sponsored programmes. These options may be taken for granted in the US, but product placement, for instance, was until recently not regulated and posed legal issues in Spain as well as in other European jurisdictions.
There are some special limitations to advertising and promotion: (i) news programmes cannot be sponsored; (ii) only films, short films, documentaries, series, sports and entertainment programmes may contain product placement; (iii) product placement within children’s programmes is banned; and (iv) neither sponsorship nor product placement can affect the programme content or its timing.
Time Limits
The Media bill establishes that operators may broadcast just twelve minutes of advertising per hour. However there are some exceptions:
(i) the time spent on sponsorship, product placement and TV promotion (with certain restrictions) does not count towards these twelve minutes,
(ii) TV channels devoted exclusively to advertising are not subject to this limitation and
(iii) broadcasters can broadcast five minutes per hour of advertising of own TV programs.
The Media bill sets a number of rules concerning when advertising can be inserted, for instance:
(i) news and movies may be interrupted only once every thirty minutes;
(ii) sports broadcastings may only be interrupted when the particular event finishes or between independent sections of the same event; and,
(iii) no advertisements can be inserted during religious services broadcastings.
Banned Advertising Types
Finally, the following types of advertising are banned:
- Advertising which is unlawful and disrespectful with human dignity (including advertising which discriminates women or displays women’s bodies as an appealing object, separated from the product)
- Subliminal advertising (sensorial stimulation below an individual's absolute threshold for conscious perception)
- Advertising of products harmful to health (e.g., tobacco, alcohol and medicines) targeted to minors or placed outside the 8:30pm to 6:00am time span; which encourages excessive consumption; or which associates consumption of the advertised products to a physical, social or health improvement
- Advertising of products which are harmful to the environment
- Advertising of products which are harmful to personal safety
- Political advertising outside electoral campaign periods
- Advertising which directly encourages minors to buy or to persuade their parents or other adults to buy, advertised products for them, taking advantage of the minors’ inexperience, providing misleading information about the product or its use; and also the advertising that exploits the special trust placed by minors in their parents and teachers, show minors in dangerous situations or encourage conduct which favours inequality between sexes
The following may be subject to specific regulation: advertising of medical products or products posing a risk to health or security, as well as advertising of gambling products.
Media Bill Status
The Media bill has been approved by the lower chamber of Parliament (Congreso) and is now being debated at the Senate (Senado). It is hard to foresee how long the debate will last since it depends on how complex and how many amendments are proposed. However, it is likely that the bill is voted in the Senate and approved this spring.
If you’d like to take a look at the broader reforms introduced by the Media bill, click here.
- Pedro Callol (of the Roca Junyent firm based in Spain)
